All In The Same Boat
by YourLocalElephant
Summary: When the apocalypse hits, Arya Stark takes part in a years-long road trip with Gendry, Hot Pie, and Lommy, all of them trying to live through said apocalypse and not get killed in the undead wasteland by either the dead or hostile groups. Modern/Zombie Apocalypse AU.
1. Starting Point (2010)

**NOTE:** This is a cross between a modern AU and a zombie apocalypse AU. Because of the latter, there are some references to well-known zombie stories peppered throughout. This is also intended to be a rather lengthy story, and there are various references and parallels to the events of ASOIAF itself in here, mostly related to Arya's story and the people she meets and interacts with.

* * *

**Chapter One:**

**Starting Point (2010)**

* * *

On April thirteenth, 2010, the life of twelve-year-old Arya Stark changed forever. On that day, she was sitting in a seat in the middle of the school bus that was in the process of taking her home. While the school year was coming to a close, Arya was disappointed that she'd been given more homework throughout the past few weeks, and this was because final exams were coming up and the county school board had decided to add more homework so the students would be more prepared for their final tests and class assignments.

However, Arya felt that once she was over this academic hurdle, the following few months would be smooth sailing and that she would have an okay summer. She planned on going dirt biking and skateboarding, even if she didn't have many people to do these things with. Her first and only real friend, Mycah, had died in an accident three years earlier, and Mycah's distraught mother and father moved out of the town of Winterfell within weeks of their son being buried. Arya felt horrible when her friend died, and even years later, she still felt upset when she thought about Mycah for a long time.

If Arya wanted to bring anyone along, it would have to be her older cousin, Jon, if he decided to visit from where he lived up north. Jon was fond of riding on dirt bikes through the woods as well, though he didn't like skateboarding at all. Concerning other relatives, Arya knew her parents wouldn't come along, Robb (although athletic and enjoyed biking) no longer lived nearby, Sansa didn't like these types of activities, Bran was crippled, and four-year-old Rickon was too young to come along.

Robb himself, aged twenty-three, was getting married in five weeks. Although she got along with Robb's significant other well enough, Arya hated weddings. She'd been dragged to a few of them by her parents, and this would be the latest. While Robb got married, Arya wanted to be out biking somewhere through the woods going really fast, which would likely end with her being flung from her bicycle after hitting a tree stump or something and rolling through the dirt. She didn't care if it happened; as long as it took place, she'd be happy. One other event she would experience soon, likely within days from what her parents said, was that her Aunt and Uncle, Lysa and Jon Arryn, would be driving up from Eyrie to visit, likely bringing Arya's bratty cousin, Robert, up with them to visit the Stark family for a few days, perhaps even a week. Just what Arya needed: a spoiled, rotten little brat who would scream in her ear all day and snitch if she tried to sneak out to go skating or biking.

Currently, Arya's backpack sat next to her while the other children on the bus noisily shouted at one another. She was sitting next to the window in a seat on the right, and her bag was to her left. Nobody usually sat next to her, so this was common. Waiting for the ride to be over soon, Arya decided to look out the window to her immediate right. Mostly, there were a few cars and the occasional truck on the other side of the road, but then she noticed a police car with its siren on. Not too out of the ordinary; she saw some police cars every now and then when the bus took her home from school. However, what she noticed was that several more police cars began to tear down the road towards the main roads of the town of Winterfell. After a short while, even a police helicopter arrived and went the opposite direction of the bus. Arya wondered about what was going on, and she continued to watch as more police cars came around, part of the group even including an armored truck or two.

After a while, the bus stalled and then stopped, breaking down. The bus Arya took home had broken down before, and she knew what was going on as soon as it started happening. All around her, various students made surprised and confused noises while she stayed silent. The last time this happened, it took two and a half hours before Arya's mother, Catelyn, arrived to bring her home. Arya didn't want to spend two hours sitting there, waiting for her mother to show up, so she figured that she should sneak off the bus somehow and walk the rest of the way home. It wasn't very far from where the bus was currently located, just two left turns before she reached her family's home on Winter Street.

While the bus driver began to explain that the bus had broken down, Arya decided to wait for an opening to sneak off of the bus. Before she thought about how she'd go about doing this, she looked to her right for a short moment and saw that more police cars were headed towards the center of the town. Arya wondered if there was a riot or something going on in town, and she figured that if it was, she was fortunate to have gotten out and was on her way home before anything happened. Knowing that she'd have to make a few left turns, Arya decided that she would be leaving out of the left side of the bus.

* * *

Arya, after getting off the bus after successfully sneaking off, walked with her backpack towards the first left turn. She walked through the tree line adjacent to the bus so no one would see her, and as she neared the first turn, she heard more police sirens and saw another helicopter. Feeling like whatever was going on in town would catch up to her if she stayed put, she kept moving forward. She wondered if anyone from the bus noticed she was gone, but she didn't count on it. After all, hardly anyone noticed she was even on the bus with them half the time because of how quiet she always was.

After she made her first turn to get to Winter Street, she noticed that there were not a whole lot of people outside and around the street like what was normal for her neighborhood. Arya briefly wondered if this had something to do with the police cars and vehicles heading into town, but she put it out of mind. After all, she didn't really pay much attention to her other neighbors after Mycah died. Walking through the neighborhood, Arya became convinced that she would make it to her family's home without much trouble. Catelyn commonly left the door unlocked so that Arya could get in the house after the bus dropped her off (hers was the first stop). If it was locked, she'd just ring the doorbell and knock loudly and rapidly, and Eddard or Robb (who was visiting for a week with his dog in tow) would surely open the door for her.

After a brief while of walking, Arya made it to Winter Street and began to walk towards her family's two story house. As she made her way down the street, she noticed that like before, there were no people anywhere. The only sounds were the distant police sirens coming from the main road and what sounded like gnawing and chewing. Curious, Arya followed the sound of the chewing noise and walked to its source, which was behind a parked car. Cautiously and quietly, Arya continued to follow the sound to its source, and she found a neighbor hunched over something.

"Hello…?" Arya said cautiously. Instantly, the man dropped what he had in his hands–a dead cat–and Arya realized that this man had been eating it. The man jerked upward and turned around to face her. It was then that Arya noticed the man's skin was gray instead of a healthy pigmentation, and his eyes were sunken-in and completely pale blue. No irises or pupils, just pale blue. Arya, not expecting to see something like this, staggered backwards while still looking at him, realizing he'd been eating the cat when he opened his mouth and growled aggressively at her like an animal, revealing bloodstained teeth.

Arya screamed and ran towards her house when he started to chase her. Arya was quick, but the gray man was quicker–grabbing onto her backpack after a short while. Arya shook the bag off of herself and kept running towards the house, not caring if her bag got damaged or not by this crazed man that was chasing her. Arya managed to get back to the house, and to her delight, she found that the front door was unlocked. She flung the door open as the man neared, and she slammed it shut and quickly locked it. Immediately after, the angry, growling man began slamming himself against the door. Arya, shaking, stared at the door for a short while the man continued slamming himself against it, and he left a short while later. Arya figured that he'd given up and was hopeful that he wouldn't return. The thought of the cat still stuck in her mind, though, and she wondered why the man had decided to eat a cat. As she walked into the house, Arya figured that the man outside was sick and or crazy, hence the gray skin and pale blue eyes and behavior.

A beeping noise caught Arya's attention. She looked over to the kitchen, and she saw the answering machine giving off a red glow that signified a new message or two. Curious about what the message could be and just wanting to take her mind off of nearly being potentially beaten up or even kidnapped by some nut job, Arya decided to listen to the message before she went looking for her mother, father, and brother. She was confused as to why they were not around at the moment. Usually, Arya would come home to find Catelyn getting dinner ready and Eddard in the back gardening. Regardless of where they were now, Arya pressed the button on the answering machine to play the message.

"Two new messages," the robotic voice belonging to the answering machine said. "Message one. Left at twelve-thirty AM on April thirteenth."

_April thirteenth?_ Arya thought. _That's today._

"Hey, Cat, this is Lysa." Arya recognized the voice of her aunt, Lysa Arryn. On the message, Lysa's voice proceeded to discuss Arya's uncle, Jon Arryn. "Unfortunately, we can't begin to come up there today like what we discussed. Jon had a run in with a crazy guy outside our house when he went to check the mail, and we had to take him to the nearest hospital because, get this, this guy he ran into out there _bit_ him."

With the description of the "crazy guy", Arya was reminded of the individual who had just tried chasing her outside. She then became more horrified than before. _What's going on?_ she thought. Lysa's voice continued. "Anyway, Jon says he's not feeling well enough to drive up to Winterfell to see you and your family, so we'll have to postpone our trip until this whole mess gets sorted out and Jon is feeling better. Anyway, I hope you can understand. We'll call you back if there's an update."

The robotic voice came back after a brief pause. "Message two. Left at one-fifteen PM on April thirteenth."

Then Lysa's voice again. "_Cat, are you there? Ned? Anyone, please call me back!_ Jon's… _Jon is…_ please, there is something going on, there are lots of sick-looking people around, and the police aren't letting me leave! _Please, just let me know you're okay!_"

Then the robot. "End of messages." There was a beep, and then silence.

Now thoroughly unsettled, Arya began to search the house for her family. "_Mom? Dad?_" she called as she began to walk through the house. The house was uncharacteristically quiet, and it made Arya wonder if they were even home at all. She had seen Robb's car out front, so she figured that he was still around somewhere. Wanting to see if the cars belonging to other relatives were present in the garage (Robb's was the only one outside), Arya began to walk to the garage to see if they were there. She scurried over to the door to the garage, and she opened the door and turned the light on. The car belonging to Arya's elder sister, Sansa, was missing, but her parents' car was there instead. She heard a familiar gnawing sound, and she followed the sound of the noise to its source, and she was horrified at what she saw.

It was Robb, with gray skin and pale blue eyes, tearing into the remains of his beloved Akita, Grey Wind. Arya's heart lurched into her throat when she saw that like the man outside, her brother was just like him. Robb, who was facing Arya's direction, briefly paused to look up at his sister, lowly growling as Grey Wind's blood dripped from his mouth.

"_Robb…?_" Arya said carefully, trying hard not to sound frightened.

Robb growled and dove for her. Arya screamed and ran back into the house, hoping that Robb wouldn't open the door and follow her. Instead, he slammed himself against the door several times, and Arya thought the door would break down due to the sheer amount of weight being pressed and slammed on to it.

Arya, starting to become fearful, shouted, "ROBB, _PLEASE STOP!_"

Robb didn't listen. Instead, he continued to growl and slam himself against the door. It was then that Arya noticed that the hinges on the door were starting to splinter from the wall. Because of this, Arya ran upstairs and to her bedroom to hide herself. She locked the door and quickly pushed a small shelf in front of it to act as a barricade in case Robb followed her up there. Deciding to stay in her bedroom and wait, Arya wondered where her parents were. She knew that Robb was inside the house, and he'd apparently killed Grey Wind. Thinking about this, Arya was more confused and unsettled than before. Why would Robb kill his pet? The only other dog the Starks had, Sansa's Yorkshire Terrier, Lady, had to be put down after getting severely sick and was unable to be treated. Almost everyone was saddened, but Sansa and Robb were the most distraught of all of them. Robb loved dogs, and Arya didn't understand why he'd harm Grey Wind.

* * *

Hours passed. During those hours, Arya mostly stayed secluded in her room and occasionally looked out the window in order to view the street below. She watched several people get swarmed by people who looked like Robb and the man outside. Some got away, but most of these poor souls were swarmed and killed. Arya watched as a good amount of them were eaten alive, while others were partially eaten. Those who had been partially eaten or even just bitten turned into more of those like Robb. Some of the gray, blue-eyed people targeted animals and bit into and ate them, but unlike the people, the animals never came back.

Arya thought back to Robb and the man outside when she saw the bitten and partially eaten people turn. She had indeed seen bite marks on the both of them, and Arya didn't think that whoever was bitten would come back to being like a normal person. And now Robb was one of them. Arya had ventured out of her bedroom a few times, and it was during these times that she discovered her parents in the house. The both of them had turned as well.

Going to bed that night, Arya kept her door locked and kept it barricaded. When she woke up the next morning, she sat on her bed and did a lot of thinking. She came to realize that her home was not safe with everything that was going on taking place. _I need to leave and find somewhere actually safe,_ Arya thought. However, her aunt's phone messages flashed back into her mind, and Arya figured both she and her uncle were among the growing ranks of the gray, blue-eyed people as well. Because of this, she didn't know where "somewhere actually safe" was located because if this was happening in both Winterfell and Eyrie, which were long distances apart from one another if one were to look at a map, then likely nowhere was safe. Regardless, she figured she had to try and find something, _anything_, that was potentially out there.

Arya cautiously exited her bedroom, and she quickly snuck downstairs to the kitchen. She could still hear Robb growling and stumbling around in the garage, and she wanted nothing to do with what was going on in there. Knowing she had to protect herself somehow, Arya made her way to where Catelyn kept her large kitchen knives and pulled two of them out of the knife block on the counter and then some rolls of bread from the fridge. Arya made her way to the door, unlocked it, and she opened, stepping out into the day.

"I'll check in town first," Arya said to herself, thinking that since there was a massive police presence going towards town a short while earlier, there would be someplace safe there. Arya gripped the handles of her knives, took a deep breath, and stepped out of the house and onto the street, leaving behind her infected parents and brother.


	2. The Crew (2010)

**Guest:** As of the time this is being written, I already have most of this story planned out. I don't think Jon is going to show up.

* * *

**Chapter Two:**

**The Crew (2010)**

* * *

After leaving her home, Arya figured it would take a short while to make it to the inner town of Winterfell and look for a safe area set up by all of the police she'd seen earlier. However, it took her three days to make it to the town itself. She spent the first few days dodging various ranks of the living dead, which Arya had taken to calling "wights", and by the time the first day ended, she was hiding among the wooded area around the neighborhood, and various times, she watched as a few poor souls were swarmed and killed.

Regardless, Arya, still very nervous, tried to get some sleep, leaning up against a tree trunk as she tried dozing off with either knife at her side. She didn't get a whole lot of sleep, and she had nothing to eat as well. She woke up every time she heard a noise, but they were mostly just squirrels and even a deer once.

Waking up the next day, Arya was surprised to see that none of the wights had spotted her while she slept. However, she knew that being in the woods out in the open was dangerous because of the dead potentially headed her way, so she continued walking towards the main road. After getting back to the street, Arya looked to her left and then her right before taking off at full speed towards the main road. She heard the unmistakable sound of a wight growling nearby, pushing her to run faster towards the road.

Relieved, Arya stopped to catch her breath when she made it to the main road, and she looked back towards where she'd been walking the previous day. There was a large traffic jam, and Arya decided to walk in between cars to avoid being spotted by any wight that walked by from the woods or other side of the road. Arya, gripping her knives, peered at some of the cars as she walked. They were all abandoned, like whoever was driving them got sick of the traffic jam when the dead arrived, left their cars, and began running for their lives. It made Arya wonder where they all were now, and she figured that they were most likely dead, some of them likely with the dead wandering Winter Street and its surrounding neighborhoods, too.

After a while, she came across the school bus that she'd abandoned when everything started. Several windows and the door were open, and Arya wanted to see if anything (or anyone) was left on board. Cautiously, Arya approached the front door of the bus and boarded while gripping both of her knives, noticing a massive bloodstain on the part of the opened door to her left. Hoping that nothing was inside the bus, she entered and found blood sprayed all around, and there was a wight inside, a young, fat boy. Arya did not recognize him, but the wight evidently heard her enter.

It raised its head, turned around, and growled as it charged at Arya. Arya, gripping her knives, braced herself as the wight approached, then acting as she swung one of the knives forward, embedding it into the wight boy's head. Immediately, he stopped running towards her and collapsed, dying for a second time. Arya, panting from the shock of what'd just happened, yanked the knife from the wight's head. Arya, still rapidly panting, backed away from the body while still observing it, heading towards the back of the bus.

Wight or not, she'd just killed someone. Not wanting to stare at the undead fat boy's remains anymore, Arya grabbed him by his feet and began to drag him off the bus, pulling him to the other side of where she'd been walking through the cars. Getting back on the bus, Arya decided to investigate what the thing had been eating. Cautiously, Arya walked to the back and saw that unlike before, it was not an animal–this was a person instead. Arya could not tell who it was because the face had been completely gnawed away.

Figuring that she could stay on the abandoned bus for the night if she needed to, Arya decided to completely clean it out and remove this body as well. So she got to work with removing it, dragging the body larger than the wight boy outside the bus as well, leaving a trail of blood behind it. Outside, Arya looked around, and when she saw no wights anywhere, she felt safe enough to drag the partially-eaten body towards the fat wight boy and stack him atop her first wight kill. It was then that Arya looked and noticed two mobile wights emerging from the nearby tree line. Not wanting to be seen, Arya turned and ran back onto the bus.

She spent the night on the bus after getting the door closed as much as she could. Curling up in a ball to sleep in a seat, Arya felt her stomach growl. She hadn't eaten all day, and she regretted not looking for anything to eat while it was still light out. Regardless, she tried to get some sleep regardless.

* * *

The next day, Arya woke up and immediately made her way to the road, heading towards Winterfell's main streets. Today, she did not want to waste her time inspecting cars and other vehicles. Instead, she just pushed forward, hoping to find a safe area soon. Hopefully, the people in this safe area she hoped to find would have food. Starvation continued to make itself present in Arya's body, and she knew she'd have to find food one way or another.

Eventually, she made it into the town. It was after noon by then (Arya figured around two), and she looked around and saw many massive stains of blood, miscellaneous garbage, and abandoned cars around, some of them police cars. Upon seeing the police cars, Arya thought that the safe area she hoped to find did not exist. If the dead had taken out most of (if not all of) the town's police force, then Arya didn't think the rest of the town stood a chance. Feeling like she would be in harm's way if she walked down the street, she took to walking down the sidewalk instead, moving past several abandoned businesses. Most of them had been ransacked, evident by destroyed windows and emptied shelves inside of what were once bakeries and other small food stores. One had even been burned to the ground and was now a black husk instead of a well cared for building.

Her stomach growled again, demanding food. Not wanting to starve, Arya reached a decision she wouldn't even consider on a normal day: she would have to dig through garbage cans for food. She did this before at age seven to gross Sansa out, and the half-eaten hamburger she pulled out of a garbage can did the trick. Unfortunately, Arya became sick and was vomiting for two days as a result of eating the hamburger. Arya didn't like the idea of doing this again, but she figured that if she found something, anything, that she could eat something someone had thrown away without doing so much as taking a bite out of it.

Arya turned around a corner and, after finding more abandoned police cars that looked burned out, she found a garbage can nearby an alleyway. A car with its wheels missing–likely stolen–was in front of the alley. Arya hurried over to the garbage can and stuck her arm in, feeling around for something. She felt a few things, specifically a paper bag, a soda bottle, a balled up piece of paper, and other things that weren't food.

Sighing, Arya pulled her hand out and began to back up a bit. When she felt herself bump into something large, she quickly swiveled around and brandished both knives, thinking it potentially was a wight. Instead, it was a fat boy with a companion who was lanky. The both of them looked around her age.

"Who are you?" Arya asked.

"We can ask you the same thing," the fat kid answered.

"_Yeah!_" his friend added in. "Now tell us who _YOU_ are!"

Arya didn't know these boys. She did not recognize either of them, and she was sure they were not students at her school, either. Regardless, these two had taken an interest in her, and Arya was willing to fight them off if she had to. _I handled a wight,_ she thought. _I'll handle these idiots._

The fat one, likely getting bold, suddenly reached forward and grabbed the front of Arya's shirt, yanking her towards himself. "_TELL US WHO YOU ARE, YOU–_"

He was cut off when Arya raised a knife and put it to his throat. The fat boy's eyes widened with fear, and his companion watched, either amused or too nervous to move. Arya's eyes narrowed. As she spoke, the fat boy slowly began to release her. "I've killed a fat boy before, and he wasn't even a boy at that point, just one of the wights. _Do you think I'll stop at you?_"

Just then, another guy emerged from the alleyway. This one was tall and buff. Regarding age, Arya guessed he was in mid adolescence. The buff guy called over to the fat boy, saying, "Hot Pie, what are you doing now?"

Hot Pie looked over at the buff guy, and he stammered, "_N-nothing, Gendry, just–_"

"Just picking on someone shorter than you?" Gendry said, crossing his arms.

Hot Pie looked ashamed. "_…Yeah…_"

Gendry shook his head in disappointment. "Bring her back here."

* * *

Sitting in the back of the alleyway against a brick wall, Arya silently ate a slice of bread Gendry had given her. Pleased to be eating food, Arya just focused on the bread and ignored everything else around her. Arya had asked for more, but Gendry explained that it was all he could provide. Gendry, the head of this small group, had explained that he was trying to ration what little food they had collected.

Nearby were Hot Pie and his lanky friend, Lommy. They were both sitting up against the wall opposite to Arya. Hot Pie had a bagel, and Lommy was eating an apple slice. Gendry was not eating anything, just pacing around with a crowbar, likely looking around for potential threats.

"Could you please just tell us who you are?" Hot Pie suddenly asked, getting Arya's attention. "I mean since you're part of us now, I think we should know who you are."

Arya contemplated answering, but she did anyway. "Arya."

"_Well… hello, Arya,_" Hot Pie said, sounding like he was uncomfortable. Then he explained. "Look, I'm sorry about being horrible back there."

"It's fine," Arya said as she continued eating the bread. As she was finishing, Lommy asked her, "You got a family?"

"I did," Arya said after she finished chewing and then swallowed. "My parents and brother are among the wights now. Everyone else… I don't know. What about you two?"

Hot Pie and Lommy looked at each other before they spoke, Hot Pie first. "My parents died when all of this started. So did Lommy's."

"We were neighbors in an apartment building in town," Lommy said, then pointed to something off in the distance. Arya looked, and she saw the faint outline of a taller building in the distance. "One of our neighbors, I guess he was infected, got into our apartments. Me and Hot Pie made it out to the streets, and we had to hide under a car when everything happened."

Hot Pie nodded rapidly. "Yeah," he said. "It was crazy when the cops showed up and started shooting at the wights. Lots of people died, it was like a riot in town. We tried sneaking away, and some wights cornered us. We'd have died if it weren't for Gendry and this older guy he was with, Yoren."

"Where is Yoren now?" Arya asked.

"Dead," Lommy answered. "He was bit the next day, and we had to run when he started to turn… it happened so fast."

"We've been with Gendry ever since," Hot Pie explained. "We've been scavenging for food, and we all have weapons." To show his own weapon, Hot Pie raised a wooden bat next to him. Lommy had a wood plank with a nail driven through it.

Though Arya had expected to find a safe zone set up by the police, she now realized that none existed. She figured that the next best thing was this small group run by Gendry. Because of this, she asked, "Mind if I stay with you three?"

Hot Pie and Lommy looked at each other before they faced her again. "I'm fine with it," Hot Pie said. Lommy nodded, then added in, "Yeah."

Hot Pie looked over at Gendry. "_Gendry!_"

"She's in," Gendry said without hesitation or looking over to the others. He continued pacing, and Arya wondered if he was too focused on keeping watch to look at the others.

Now that Arya was part of this group, she couldn't help but think back to her family, wondering if the ones not turned into wights were still alive somewhere. She recalled Sansa's car being missing from the garage, and Arya hoped that this meant that she and the others were somewhere and still alive. Regardless, she figured that for the time being, she would be with these three.

While Arya figured she'd need a while longer to warm up to Hot Pie and Lommy, she'd already taken a great liking to Gendry after he stood up for her and had given her what little food he could share with her. Now that Arya was a member of this small group, she figured that she would have to help with searching for more food and potentially other supplies.

That night, Arya sat around a small fire set in a trash can that Gendry and Lommy had made. Also sitting there around the fire were the three she was now part of a group with. As they sat there, they talked.

"Tomorrow, we're going to search for more food," Gendry announced. "We're running low as it is, and Arya's new presence in our group's going to bring a demand for more food. Here's how it's going to be: Arya and I will split off from you two to look for food around town, and you guys go on your own to find food. We'll gather back here around noon when we have everything."

_Food around town?_ Arya thought. _I'm pretty sure everything's been picked clean by now._

"Alright," Hot Pie said. "Who's on watch tonight?"

"I am," Gendry said. "Hot Pie, I'll wake you up when it's your turn."

While Arya figured that sooner or later, she would have to spend time with Hot Pie and or Lommy, she was fine searching for food with Gendry.

* * *

"Alright, are we all ready?" Gendry asked the following day. The group of four, each holding their weapons, were standing in the alleyway and had just finished going over their plans for gathering more food.

"I'm ready," Arya said.

"So am I," Hot Pie said.

Lommy nodded rapidly. "Yeah."

Arya and Gendry made for the exit of the alleyway first, but Gendry suddenly stopped and held his arm out, signaling for everyone else to stop.

"What is it?" Lommy asked.

"_Do you hear that?_" Gendry asked, speaking quietly. "_People._"

Hot Pie and Lommy slunk back into the alley, but Arya stayed with Gendry. He looked at Arya and whispered, "_Follow me over to that car. We'll hide behind it and listen._"

Arya and Gendry crouched and snuck over to the car in front of the alleyway. They silently crouched next to the car, weapons in hand, as they listened in on a conversation between three men.

"How much longer? I haven't eaten in days."

"A man must have patience, and so must a man's companions."

"_Patience,_" the first man sneered. Arya heard a growl coming from a third man. The first continued. "Jaqen, we've been meandering around for days. There's no food left in Winterfell. If we find someone with food, I'm not afraid to smash their head in."

The third man made another noise, and this sounded like growling or hissing. Arya wondered if the third man could even speak.

"_Do you know them?_" Arya whispered.

"_No,_" Gendry answered just as quietly as the men continued speaking. They'd likely stopped to discuss the problems faced by their own group and were evidently unaware of the presence of Arya's group.

"Biter and I are getting hungry," the first man growled. "Now you're going to help us find food before I skin you."

Jaqen chuckled. "A man is aware, Rorge."

Arya didn't understand how someone could laugh off such a serious threat. She knew about skinning–a few months earlier, the police in the nearby town of Dreadfort were tracking a serial killer who went by the alias of "Red Helm". Red Helm had a reputation for skinning people alive, and Arya shuddered thinking about it. She overheard her parents talking about the same serial killer with Robb and Sansa, and Arya had also heard that Red Helm was capturing people around Winterfell as well. A few days before the apocalypse hit, Arya learned that the feds finally caught him. Red Helm turned out to be a psychotic man named Ramsay Bolton who had slain several of his own family members alongside his other victims. Arya hoped he was dead and that he hadn't found an opportunity to escape when the wights began to attack people.

Jaqen continued. "Mayhaps there is food around here, this very area."

Rorge snorted. Arya listened as he began to walk around the car. "I wouldn't count on it. This town's been ripped to shreds– _HEY!_"

Arya and Gendry stood up and backed up down the sidewalk as Rorge took notice of them. Biter and Jaqen then noticed as well, and the former two charged at Arya and Gendry as everyone began yelling. Biter charged at Gendry while Rorge went for Arya. Arya swung her knives at the massive, powerful man before her while Gendry swung his crowbar at Biter, who had charged him like a rabid dog. Gendry hit Biter on the back with his crowbar, but it didn't seem to work very well; Biter evidently seemed to have a high tolerance to pain.

Meanwhile, Rorge had quickly overpowered Arya, and she'd dropped both of her knives after Rorge gave her a hard punch in the gut. He hit very hard, and she crumpled to the ground, wheezing and clutching her wounded abdomen. Arya began to hear growling off in the distance, and as she tried to climb to her feet, Rorge laughed and kicked her hard, knocking her down again. Nearby, Biter kept snapping at Gendry's face with his sharpened teeth, and he kept trying to fight him off, winding up with the crowbar being shoved horizontally into Biter's mouth. Biter hissed and bit down onto the rusted metal as Gendry pushed Biter back.

Rorge stomped over to Arya and would have attacked her again if Hot Pie and Lommy hadn't run out from the alleyway and began hitting him with their own weapons. Rorge growled in annoyance and punched Hot Pie in the face, sending him staggering backward. Rorge grunted as Lommy's plank hit his back, and he snatched the plank from Lommy's hands and promptly broke it over his knee, tossing it off to the side in the process. Lommy's eyes widened in fear of what was to come, and Rorge reached for his face. However, before Rorge could get his hands on Lommy, Jaqen leapt from the roof of the car and kicked Rorge in the back of the head.

As Rorge staggered forward, rubbing the back of his head, Arya grabbed a sole knife and began to climb to her feet, still feeling very sore. Nearby, Hot Pie gripped his bat and began to get back on his own feet as Jaqen wrapped his right arm around Biter's throat and pulled back, enabling Gendry to climb out from beneath the massive bald man, crowbar in hand. Rorge noticed, and he began to rush at Gendry, only for Jaqen to use most of his own power to toss Biter at Rorge. They collided, and the back of Rorge's head smashed into a window of the car, breaking it and causing the car alarm to go off. While Biter flailed around and screeched, Rorge groaned pitifully.

Arya and Jaqen locked eyes for a moment after this. "A man suggests a girl and her friends leave quickly!"

Arya finally climbed to her feet, grouping up with Hot Pie, Gendry, and Lommy. All four of them looked beyond Jaqen, and they saw something that horrified them all: a massive swarm of wights were approaching from down the street. From what Arya could see, there were at least sixty of them.

"_RUN!_" Arya screamed, and the four then turned to run away, leaving Jaqen, Rorge, and Biter behind.

* * *

The four ran for the rest of the day, leaving the town of Winterfell and their scarce amounts of food all behind. Around dusk, Arya, Gendry, Hot Pie, and Lommy were on the highway headed south. When they made it out to the highway, they slowed down and began walking. After a while, they came across another traffic jam, the line of parked cars being very long. It reminded Arya of the traffic jam back on the main road in Winterfell.

"What now?" Hot Pie asked as everyone stopped in front of the cars. Gendry, who was up front, turned to face everyone else.

"We walk through the cars," he explained. With this, they all began to wade through the long line of cars. They walked for thirty minutes before Arya heard it: crying.

"Do you hear that?" she said.

"Hear what?" Lommy asked. Everyone stopped walking and faced Arya.

"Crying," Arya answered. "Listen."

Everyone stopped to listen.

Hot Pie shrugged. "I don't hear anything, Arya. I think you're imagining–"

"No, no, I hear it," Gendry broke in, then walked towards a car, likely following the noise to its source. Arya, Hot Pie, and Lommy followed him over to the car, and the crying noise became louder. Gendry wedged his crowbar into a back door of a car and, with a few hard jerks, forced the door open, revealing the source of the noise. Inside the car, sitting in the backseat was a small girl, a toddler in a pink car seat.

The girl in the car seat continued to cry, and she stared at the four who had discovered her uneasily, like she was trying to figure out what they were all about.

"Who are you?" Lommy asked. The girl just shook and made a whimpering noise, sniffling and crying all the while. The four approached her, and Hot Pie and Lommy began to provide a steady stream of questions to the girl.

"Come on," Lommy insisted. "Tell us who you are!"

"Where are your parents?" Hot Pie asked.

"Can you talk?" Lommy asked.

"How old are you?" Hot Pie pushed.

Upon hearing Hot Pie's second question, the girl–still shaking uneasily and crying–raised her right hand and lifted up two fingers.

"You're two?" Hot Pie asked for clarification. The girl nodded.

"Can you say anything?" Lommy asked, sounding annoyed. "_Come on, talk!_"

The girl shuddered and whimpered. Arya, eyes narrowing, stepped forward. "Lommy, Hot Pie, back off. I'll talk to her."

Gendry, Hot Pie, and Lommy walked away, allowing Arya to speak to the girl alone. Arya remembered as a younger child speaking to a screaming and flailing Rickon for the first time and being able to calm him down. Because of this, she figured that she could get the girl in the back of the car to calm down.

"_Hey,_" Arya said gently to the girl, placing a hand on the girl's smaller hand. "Don't worry. You're okay. I'm not going to hurt you."

The girl observed Arya, and she stopped sniffling and stared into Arya's gray eyes. Arya continued to reassure her. "We'll be fine. You don't have to worry about us. Now I'll talk to the others and come back to you, okay?"

The girl smiled and nodded. Arya was relieved that the toddler was starting to feel better. Arya walked over to the others, and Hot Pie was the first to ask about what happened. "So what happened?"

"I got her to calm down," Arya said. "I think she should come with us."

"Why?" Lommy asked. "She'll just slow us down. If we stick around here for long, those wights from town are going to catch up to us."

"Let's discuss this, then," Gendry said. "I'm willing to take her with us."

Lommy's eyes narrowed in disapproval. "_Gendry, are you serious?_"

"Yes," Gendry said. "And Arya agrees with me. Hot Pie, what about you?"

"_Uh…_" Hot Pie said, looking around like he was searching for an answer. Then it seemed to hit him. "_Aren't… aren't we out of food?_ Why bring in another mouth to feed?"

"That splits us in half," Arya said. "Majority rules, right, Gendry?"

Gendry nodded. "Yeah, that's how this'll work."

"Hot Pie, Lommy, she has _no one,_" Arya said.

"Her parents–" Lommy tried to explain, but Arya interjected.

"Her parents are most likely _dead,_" she said, the girl again reminding her of young Rickon, who she would never leave for dead. "If not, they're horrible people for abandoning their two-year-old daughter like this. _She'll die without anyone helping her._"

Hot Pie looked a little guilty. Arya continued. "Lommy, we'd be no different from them by leaving a little girl to die. She has no one, and we're likely the only ones who know she's here."

Hot Pie shuddered and took a deep breath. "_Okay, okay, you've convinced me._"

"_What?!_" Lommy snapped, shooting an angry glance over at Hot Pie.

"Then it's settled," Gendry said. "She's coming with us."

Lommy's hands were balled into fists, and his forearms were shaking. He was glaring at Gendry, and Arya thought that Lommy wanted to hit Gendry, which would only end horribly because Gendry could have very clearly easily snapped a scrawny twig like Lommy in half. Lommy opened his mouth again. "_Gendry, are you going to keep being stupid–_"

Gendry approached Lommy with an angry glare in his eyes with an imposing stance. For a second, Arya really thought that Gendry would punch Lommy in the face because of the tense feeling of what was going on. Hot Pie must have felt the same way because he looked outright scared. As Gendry approached, Lommy's angry face seemed to shift a bit as if there was a hint of nervousness behind his mask of rage now that Gendry was making it clear he wasn't putting up with his defiant nonsense.

"_Lommy,_" Gendry said in a low, serious tone. "_Shut your mouth._"

* * *

The little girl, who was now silently crying, tightly held on to Arya's hand as they walked with the rest of the group towards the end of the cars on the highway. Sure, she slowed everyone down, but they made it to the end of the traffic jam as night set in. The whole way, the toddler made no noise aside from sniffling (Arya thought that if she could talk, she did not know many words, but passed her silence off as her being afraid and probably hungry as well). Gendry seemed to be closely looking at cars. Currently, the only light was provided by the moon and stars.

"Are you looking for something, Gendry?" Arya asked.

"Yeah," he answered. "A usable car."

"Why do you want a car?" Hot Pie asked.

"All five of us can drive away from Winterfell and get far away from here," he explained. "We just need to find a usable car, preferably with keys in it."

"What are the chances of that, though?" Lommy asked.

"We'll find one," Gendry said.

"_Really?_" Lommy snickered.

"_We'll find one,_" Gendry pushed, sounding annoyed. Although Lommy could be annoying at times and somewhat selfish as well, Arya had to agree with him on this one and that he had a point. Arya didn't know anyone who'd just abandon a car and leave the keys for someone to take for their own.

A short while later, they made it to the end of the long line of cars, and Gendry peered into the partly blood smeared window of a light brown sedan. "Is that… _yeah, it is!_"

"What?" Hot Pie asked eagerly.

"A car with keys!" Gendry announced, and Arya felt surprised and relieved. She did not expect to find something like this, but she was pleased to make the discovery regardless.

"Is it unlocked?" Arya asked, prompting Gendry to walk over to the other side of the car to open the door. It was unlocked. After looking at the open door and inside of the car, he faced everyone else. "Everybody get in."

Following Gendry's orders, they all piled into the car, winding up with Gendry in the driver's seat, Arya in the shotgun seat, and Hot Pie, Lommy, and the toddler in the back.

"Should we go get this one's car seat?" Lommy asked, gesturing at the girl. When Arya helped her into the back, she seemed hesitant to let go of her hand, but did so regardless.

Gendry snorted. "You want to head back those several miles to get it?"

Lommy was quiet.

"Thought so," Gendry said as he used the keys to turn the car on. He then put the headlights on and took off down the highway.

* * *

"She needs a name," Lommy said.

Two weeks had passed since Arya and everyone else drove off from Winterfell. They'd gone south and wound up in the town of Barrowton four days earlier. Like Winterfell, Barrowton was overrun, but not as badly as Winterfell. Currently, the five in the group were hiding out in an abandoned bakery. They had found little food in there that scavengers hadn't found and were living on that. Arya was surprised that no other humans were traveling through Barrowton. Besides themselves, the only other "life" they saw were the wights, which Arya didn't view as being alive at all.

The car was parked outside of the bakery, and Gendry had taken to siphoning gas out of cars to get gas for the group's own vehicle. He suggested that everyone practice with siphoning gas so they could all get the hang of it if they ever needed to do it. Currently, only Gendry, Arya, and Lommy had siphoned gas out of cars.

Arya and Lommy were sitting in the middle of the abandoned bakery. Elsewhere, the toddler curiously followed Hot Pie around as he pulled various baking books off of shelves and flipped through them, and Gendry stood near the front with his crowbar, keeping watch for potential threats.

"What do you mean?" Arya asked Lommy.

"That girl you pulled out of the car on the highway," he explained. "She's nameless. We need to give her a name."

Thirty minutes later, Arya and Lommy grouped up with Gendry and Hot Pie and sat in a square-shaped formation. Nearby, the girl looked out of the dirty front window of the bakery at the night sky. Arya felt terribly sorry for her; the poor thing was obviously scared out of her mind, and the sight of her standing alone reminded Arya of how she'd wake up in the morning in the bakery and always find the small girl curled up in a ball next to her when they fell asleep apart, sleeping soundly as Arya observed her in the morning.

"What's this about a name?" Gendry asked.

"Lommy and I want to name the girl," Arya said. "She doesn't know her real name, and we need to call her something if she's staying with us."

"I like this idea," Hot Pie said, and Gendry nodded in agreement.

"So does anyone have any ideas?" Arya asked.

Hot Pie raised his hand. "How about Lemon? Or Berry? Maybe Turnip?"

"Are you hungry?" Arya asked.

Hot Pie's face fell. "_Yes._"

Gendry shrugged. "I'm not that good with names. You all pick something."

Arya thought for a moment, then it hit her. "How about Catelyn? Beth?"

Lommy then snapped his fingers as if he just got a good idea. "_Weasel!_"

Arya and Hot Pie gave him a puzzled look.

"_What?_" Arya asked.

"We don't know her name, and plus, she looks like one."

He started snickering, and Arya contemplated slapping him upside the head. However, before she could, Hot Pie spoke. "I actually like that. It has a nice ring to it."

"You can't be serious," Arya said.

Gendry shrugged. "I'm fine with it."

"_Let's do it!_" Lommy cheered.

Arya sighed. Even though the girl didn't look like a weasel to her, she figured that unfortunately, it was their best option. Lommy wouldn't listen to what Arya suggested, Hot Pie just thought about food, and Gendry didn't care either way. "_Fine,_" Arya sighed. "Weasel it is, then."

"_Alright!_" Lommy cheered. "The five of us are gonna live to see another day! Me and Hot Pie and Gendry and Arya and Weasel! We're a crew!"

Nearby, the toddler–now known as Weasel–eyed them curiously.


	3. Five Man Band (2012)

**Chapter Three:**

**Five Man Band (2012)**

* * *

Arya, in the process of sharpening her knife with a whetstone, listened as Hot Pie and Lommy entered the bakery after a supply run into Barrowton. Weasel was sitting next to Arya, quietly watching her. Outside, it was heavily raining, and the two boys were soaked. They did not have much food and other materials they could use; Barrowton was starting to run low on supplies, and Arya was not sure if the group could stay there for much longer without starving.

Gendry, who'd been sitting on an empty crate, got up and approached the two who had just returned. "What did you get?" he asked them while crossing his arms.

"Pudding, mostly," Hot Pie answered, he and Lommy placing their bags of supplies on the ground. "Lommy found some car parts and some ammo."

Lommy grinned like an idiot and simultaneously nodded. "Yeah, yeah."

"Alright, this should keep us going for a while," Gendry commented, then raised his voice. "_Everyone, everyone listen!_"

Arya, Hot Pie, Lommy, and Weasel all looked at Gendry as he continued speaking. "Tomorrow, we're going on a big supply run, all of us. We need to leave Barrowton soon."

"Why leave?" Hot Pie asked.

Arya didn't answer. She understood why they needed to go: Barrowton's supplies left behind by its former citizens were running dry, and there were more wights around than before. It seemed like there were more of them around every year, and they had been in Barrowton for two years at that point. What also helped push the notion to leave was that Gendry had found a usable minivan and had replaced the sedan with it. Currently, the rusted thing was outside getting soaked in the rain.

"There are barely any supplies and food left in town," Gendry explained to Hot Pie. "We need to make one last supply run before we leave because there's nothing left for us here. Lommy," he said, catching Lommy's attention, "you come with me to the back room. We need to discuss how we're going to go about this."

Lommy nodded. "Alright. I've got some ideas already."

Gendry and Lommy disappeared into the back of the bakery, and Hot Pie waddled off to go somewhere else. When they were gone for forty seconds, Weasel cautiously looked around and then addressed Arya.

"Arya."

Arya paused from sharpening her knife and looked at the small girl sitting next to her. Weasel learned how to speak after a short while, and while she could talk, her actually talking to someone was exceptionally rare. Weasel was very quiet and hardly uttered a word to anyone in the group. She only spoke to Arya and Gendry, less with the latter than the former. Weasel only really seemed to trust Arya completely, and while she seemed to be warming up to Gendry, she was neutral when it came to Hot Pie, and she didn't like Lommy at all.

Concerning Lommy, he often made fun of Weasel, which always resulted in Arya shouting at him to leave her alone. One incident from the previous winter almost resulted in Arya physically attacking Lommy when he actually shoved Weasel, but she held back from punching him. On that particular day, everyone was cold and huddled around a fire with blankets wrapped around themselves, and Arya didn't want to make the situation worse by starting something with Lommy that would result in a fistfight.

Lommy was forced to learn to respect Arya, anyway. In the group, she was the second in command after Gendry, and when he wasn't around, everyone took orders from her. Arya wasn't entirely sure as to why Gendry picked her to lead after him when he arguably spent most of his time discussing supply run strategies with Lommy, but she didn't really care about Gendry's reasons as to why he chose her.

"What is it, Weasel?" Arya asked.

"Are we really leaving?"

Arya paused for a moment to think. "Most likely, yes."

"Where will we go?"

"Somewhere we can stay that's got a lot of food."

"Is everyone else coming along?"

"Yes."

Weasel looked upset. Arya decided to guess about what was bothering her. "Are you thinking of leaving Lommy here?"

Weasel hesitated, but answered anyway. "_…Yes…_"

"Could you explain?"

"He's mean," Weasel answered. "He always pushes me around or call me things like 'dirt-eater'. I don't like it."

"I don't either," Arya replied. "But that doesn't warrant leaving him behind to fend for himself."

Weasel still looked sad. "Alright."

She got quiet again, and Arya thought about what would happen if Weasel took her concerns to Gendry: he would have none of it. Though Arya was fond of him, she had to admit that Gendry could be incredibly stubborn at times and refuse to resolve tension in the group, leaving this up to her. She also knew that Gendry wouldn't rid himself of Lommy because of the latter's key role in the group as the main strategist and weapons-maker. A year after the group arrived at Barrowton, Lommy had made a new weapon for himself in the form of a two-edged spear. He was also the one to find a cleaver for Arya to use alongside her knife and the one to locate a sledgehammer for Gendry to replace his crowbar. Everyone used their new weapons to this day.

In the group, Hot Pie acted as the one who rationed the food and provided extra muscle when they needed it. Though fat, Hot Pie used his weight to his advantage and used it when swinging the metal pipe he used as a new weapon at wights. Five months earlier, the bat he'd been using for a long time splintered in half when he smashed it upside a wight's head.

Weasel was often the source of arguments ending between members of the group. When she was present, not many of them happened, and Arya knew that Weasel just wanted the group to live at peace with one another, even if she didn't say it much. One thing regarding Weasel that started that Arya tried to shut down whenever she saw it was that somewhere along the line, Weasel had picked up a bad habit of eating dirt, mud, and sometimes bugs. Lommy made fun of this, and Hot Pie was disgusted. Gendry did not seem to care either way.

Arya resumed sharpening her weapon as the rain continued to come down outside. Weasel got up and walked away, and Arya silently hoped that the rain would stop by the following day so that they could search for supplies without getting wet.

* * *

The next day, the group gathered together with their weapons in hand. Gendry cleared his throat before addressing everyone else. All of them had backpacks on to carry things they found. "Okay, here's how this is gonna go down," he started. "We're splitting off into three groups. Arya and I are going to look for car parts like spare tires and gas. Hot Pie is going to look for food on his own, and Lommy and Weasel are going to look for weapons and things to make weapons out of."

Hot Pie nodded, tightly gripping his pipe. "Alright."

Weasel frowned when she learned that she would be with Lommy for the day, and Arya didn't blame her. She was at least happy to be able to search for gas with Gendry. The group soon after split up, and Arya watched as Weasel and Lommy disappeared around a corner; Weasel took one last look at Arya before she got out of her line of sight. Hot Pie disappeared shortly afterward, and that left Arya and Gendry walking down the street themselves.

"Where are we headed?" Arya asked.

"That junkyard Lommy and I found yesterday," Gendry said. "It's a short walk away from the bakery we've been living in. We need things for the minivan, and Lommy and I saw lots of cars in there. We could probably siphon some more gas from them, too."

"I thought we had enough," Arya commented.

"Yeah, we have a lot of it, but not _enough_."

"How are we on food?"

"_Eh…_" Gendry said, trailing off to think for a short while. "Just enough for all of us. Hot Pie takes inventory of the food, too, not just rationing it to everyone else."

Upon hearing this comment, Arya thought about Hot Pie and realized that, even two years into the apocalypse, he was still fat. This made her think that perhaps Hot Pie was taking most of the food for himself. However, at the end of the day, everyone ate and got their share of the food from him, so she wasn't complaining, and neither was anyone else.

While walking, Arya noticed two things: the junkyard, and two wights in the road, aimlessly staggering around. The both of them looked rather rotted, and Arya wondered if they'd been around since the beginning. "Wights," she said.

Gendry brandished his sledgehammer. "You get one, I get the other."

Arya drew both of her knives, and the two of them proceeded to rush at the wights. Gendry reached his first, the sledgehammer crushing the wight's skull and killing it almost instantly. Arya knocked the wight she was targeting down with the sheer force of her impacting it. When it was down, she quickly drove her knife through its pale blue eye into its brain. It stopped moving immediately after.

"Now the junkyard," Arya said as she and Gendry walked away from the bodies of the wights they'd just killed. As they walked towards the entrance, Arya noticed that the entrance was locked, several chains wrapped around the doors.

"Not through the front," Gendry said before Arya asked about this. "Follow me."

Arya followed Gendry over to a large, person-sized hole in the tall chain link fence surrounding the junkyard. Arya snickered when she saw the opening. "Was that always there?"

"No," Gendry said as he began to climb inside. "Lommy used wire cutters on this when we found it. It's been a goldmine for gas; you wouldn't believe how much gas is left behind in these cars in here."

Arya followed him inside, and she followed him deeper into the junkyard. While walking, she looked around and saw old cars stacked atop each other amid masses of garbage. Arya thought it all smelled bad, but not as bad as the wights. She'd take living in garbage over being forced to live through the apocalypse any day.

As the two of them walked, Arya looked around and saw that many of the cars had their gas cap doors opened. Arya thought that this was because these specific cars had gas siphoned out of them by Gendry and Lommy during the previous day. If there were any wights in the junkyard, Arya figured that Gendry and Lommy had cleared them out by then; after Lommy found two pistols a short while earlier, he and Gendry had used them the most. Arya figured that most of the wights in the junkyard had been shot by the both of them by now. Ever since the discovery, Lommy had talked about searching for something larger, like an AK-47 or AR-15. However, the group had not found something of that sort in Barrowton. Since they were leaving in a short while, Arya knew they wouldn't have time to look for something that probably wasn't there. Currently, the pistols were in the possession of Lommy and Hot Pie.

Regarding Lommy, Arya remembered him being with Weasel as she herself walked with Gendry through the junkyard. It made her concerned and slightly angry that Lommy was possibly bullying her again while Arya was not around to get him to shut up and knock it off, and she had no idea why Gendry placed them together for the day. As they kept moving, Arya decided to bring up the issue.

"Gendry," she began.

"Yes?" Gendry did not look back at her as they kept walking through the junkyard.

"About Weasel," Arya explained. "Why did you put her with Lommy today? You know she doesn't get along with him."

"Because they can bring things in better together," Gendry answered as he began to look through a junked car for potential supplies.

Arya frowned. "_You know fully well that Weasel is not on friendly terms with–_"

Gendry, when he saw that there was nothing within the interior of the car, began to siphon gas out of it as he replied to Arya. "They'll be fine."

"_Gendry!_"

"_They'll be fine!_"

Of course. Gendry was being stubborn as a bull again. Gendry being stubborn happened so much that one might as well count the amount of times they blinked or sneezed. Arya kept frowning, and she wanted to slap Gendry upside the head. Instead, she decided to push her luck with him and decided to keep talking instead.

"Then why does she only talk to _us?_"

Gendry paused for a moment, but then resumed his activity. "_Arya, drop it! Weasel will be FINE._"

Arya was more angry than before. She knew that Gendry knew that pairing off Lommy with Weasel was a bad idea. She emitted an angry exhale that she was sure Gendry heard, and she hoped he did.

Gendry finished siphoning the gas out of the car and turned to face Arya. "Now let's just finish–"

Gendry was cut off when a wight burst from the side window of a nearby car and grabbed his arm, shattered glass flying everywhere. Gendry shouted in surprise and lurched forward, trying to pull himself away. Arya sprung into action and charged at the wight, driving the cleaver into its head several times before it became limp, the top half of the rotting body dangling out of the side of the car. Both Arya and Gendry observed the dead wight before the latter spoke. "Huh. Nice one, Arya."

* * *

After a while, Arya and Gendry had collected lots of gas out of cars, and Gendry was lugging around a spare tire to use for the minivan he'd pulled off of some other car. Arya was surprised that the tire was still in good shape despite being in a town dump for who knows how long. Currently, the two of them were making their way between two large stacks of cars, looking for the exit of the junkyard. Soon enough, Arya noticed said gate.

"There," Arya said, pointing towards the locked front gate. "We're getting close."

Arya and Gendry picked up the pace to head to the hole Lommy had made sooner. However, as they neared the exit, Arya looked upwards and noticed one of the cars was leaning over the side. It was stuck in between two other junked cars, and a wight was growling and snarling as it reached outward at the air.

Arya slowed her pace, and Gendry noticed and stopped altogether. "What is it?"

"I'm looking at the wight up there," Arya explained as she stopped walking, pointing towards the wight with her cleaver. She wondered how it managed to climb up there, and she then realized that it could have been a person who got bit, got scared, and climbed into the car to hide until the wight or wights left the surrounding area, only to turn a short while later.

"So what about it?" Gendry asked, sounding annoyed that they'd stopped. The car the wight was in was shaking, like it was coming lose.

"It just caught my eye. That's all–"

Arya was cut off when the shaking car promptly fell out from the pile, the wight coming with it. Several other cars came tumbling down as well, landing atop each other and scattering around. Arya and Gendry managed to back up before getting crushed, but the wight in the car wasn't so fortunate; its decomposing head and parts of its body were crushed like a stale watermelon.

Now before Arya and Gendry was a pile of five totaled cars.

"Great," Gendry sighed after a brief period of silence. "Now we'll have to find another way around to get to the…"

Gendry trailed off when the sounds of groaning and snarling came from behind the two of them. Arya and Gendry turned around and saw that several wights–all drawn by the noise of the cars falling–were approaching from where they just walked. Arya asked Gendry while looking at the wights, "How about we climb _OVER_ the cars?"

They did just that; Arya and Gendry simultaneously turned around and made for the fallen cars. Arya got up on one car first, and Gendry came close behind her after lobbing the wheel atop the same car, which had landed upside-down. They moved through the cars, and it took a while; Arya began to feel that the wights would gain on them and catch up before they got beyond the obstacle of the fallen cars. However, they got through the mess together.

Arya and Gendry (the latter slightly slowed by the tire he was carrying) soon after made it to the hole in the fence Lommy had made. Arya exited the junkyard first, and she looked around the street to make sure that no wights were around the streets of Barrowton. Fortunately, none were. Gendry exited the junkyard then, entering the street after pushing his tire out through the hole.

They both ran back to the bakery then with what they'd gotten in their supply run. Arya knew (and she was sure Gendry knew) that the wights would follow them out of the junkyard and find the hole, moving out onto the street.

"When do you want to leave Barrowton?" Arya asked as she ran with Gendry at her side.

"We're loading the minivan and leaving as soon as we get back," he answered.

* * *

When the group got back together at dusk, Arya immediately looked around for Weasel. When she spotted her, the smaller girl ran over to Arya and tightly hugged her side.

"Are you okay?" Arya asked carefully, gently rubbing the back of Weasel's head.

Weasel, looking as uncomfortable as she did when she set out with Lommy in the morning, looked up at Arya and silently nodded. Arya began feeling angry again; she felt–no, knew–that Lommy had bullied her again. She also thought she saw dirt flecked around her mouth, making her think that Weasel was eating dirt again.

"Did you and Lommy get things?" Arya asked.

Weasel nodded. Arya did not ask her if Lommy bullied her again; that was a question best asked in private.

* * *

The group took inventory that night before piling into the minivan. The gas Arya and Gendry had collected would keep them on the road for a while, Hot Pie had surprisingly found enough food for everyone to last a few weeks (though it was mostly more pudding), and Lommy and Weasel had found ammunition and other blunt instruments for weaponry. Lommy explained that Weasel had to crawl into small spaces to collect some of the items, and he also explained that he was admittedly impressed with her for once. Much to Lommy's lament, they did not find any AK-47s or AR-15s.

It was dusk then, and Arya was thankful for the small amount of sunlight still present in the sky providing them enough light to fill the back of the minivan with their things. Arya and Hot Pie looked through the bakery they'd been living in for one final time to make sure they had everything they needed, and Arya remembered to grab a road atlas they'd found a while earlier. She knew it would be useful to them on the road.

After everything was placed into the back of the minivan, they all piled in. They had two extra seats, and Gendry and Arya were up front, Lommy and Hot Pie were in the middle, and Weasel was in one of the three seats in the back, sitting in the middle so that Arya could see her if she looked back. Arya was not a fan of letting Weasel out of her line of sight for a long period of time when Lommy was around, so she was pleased that she could actually see her. It was dark out by then.

"Alright," Gendry said as he turned the car on, "we're off."

Arya watched as Gendry began to drive through Barrowton after turning his headlights on. Gendry carefully and slowly drove out of the town, and he made it to a major route.

"Where are we going?" Hot Pie asked. "Like, what town?"

Gendry paused. "Somewhere far away from Barrowton. Maybe we'll find more people."

"I think the people besides us are all gone," Lommy said.

Hot Pie raised an eyebrow and looked at Lommy. "What do you mean?"

Lommy crossed his arms. "Hot Pie, have you even _seen_ a live person besides _us_ since all this started?"

"No," Hot Pie admitted, "but that doesn't mean everyone's _dead_."

"Yeah," Gendry agreed. Weasel said nothing.

"But do you have a specific area in mind?" Arya asked. "Where are we going to go?"

"You've got the road atlas, Arya," Gendry said.

Arya frowned. _Gendry, are you serious?!_

It was dark out then, and Arya opened the road atlas and looked around at the nearest settlements shown on the map: White Harbor, Moat Cailin, and Greywater Watch. "Okay," she said as she folded the road atlas back up, "the closest areas are White Harbor, Moat Cailin, and Greywater Watch. The last one is really far off, though."

They passed by a green sign to the right. Arya quickly observed the names on it and how far away they were in miles.

**WHITE HARBOR - 60**

**MOAT CAILIN - 70**

**GREYWATER WATCH - 100**

**WINTERFELL - 265**

Gendry must have seen the sign, too, evident by him then saying, "White Harbor. We'll go there."

Arya looked at him and raised an eyebrow. He had clearly just decided that on the spot because it was closest from Barrowton. _Do you actually have a long term plan?_


	4. Red Water (2012)

**NOTE:** Expect chapters to get lengthier as this story progresses, starting after this chapter. This may also mean it may take a while for a new chapter to be posted. I apologize in advance for any inconvenience this may cause.

* * *

**Chapter Four:**

**Red Water (2012)**

* * *

It took Gendry a day, but he managed to reach White Harbor with the minivan after leaving Barrowton with the others. Arya, still sitting up front, noticed the city of White Harbor begin to come into view.

"There," she said, pointing forward while facing Gendry. "Do you see it?"

"Yes," he answered.

"Are we actually there?" Hot Pie asked curiously.

"Yes," Arya answered. "Gendry's getting close."

They'd been driving nearly nonstop since leaving Barrowton, and now that White Harbor was starting to appear off in the distance, Arya realized how fortunate they all were that they avoided another mass traffic backup like when they left Winterfell. She knew they'd be forced to abandon the minivan if that were the case, and they'd be on foot again.

"When will we have to fill the gas back up?" Lommy asked.

Gendry peered beyond the front wheel to see how much gas was left. "Probably when we get to White Harbor, or when we're about to leave."

"So are we just going to scavenge around again?" Arya asked.

"Maybe, maybe not," Gendry answered. "We could find a home there. White Harbor has docks, so we could fish if we need to."

"Fish?" Hot Pie said.

"Yes," Gendry replied. "Have you ever eaten fish?"

"Yeah," Hot Pie answered, bobbing his head.

They were closing in on White Harbor now. Gendry pulled into the city and made his way to the main road. While this was going on, Arya looked over and saw that the car was nearly out of gas. Lommy must have noticed the same thing, evident by him saying, "Gendry, we need to pull over. You're almost out of gas."

Gendry turned onto the main road of White Harbor after entering the city. "I know, Lommy. I'm pulling over anyway."

Gendry then pulled the minivan to the nearest curb and shut it off. "Everyone out," he instructed. "We'll scout around, and if we don't find somewhere to stay, we'll scavenge and leave to go somewhere else."

Arya didn't like the sound of "somewhere else". To her, it confirmed that Gendry had no set goal in mind other than the group supporting themselves somehow somewhere away from any and all wights. She was not sure if the other three in the group felt the same way, but she didn't doubt that they'd realize this if they thought about it for a lengthy period of time. She wanted to get away from the wights permanently, but she didn't know where "away" was located.

The five of them piled out of the car, weapons in hand.

"Are we going to refuel first?" Arya asked.

"When we leave," Gendry answered.

The group advanced down the street together in one big cluster. They found no wights around, much to Arya's surprise, even though the streets were mostly abandoned. This made her think that White Harbor wasn't entirely deserted. Lommy must have had the same train of thought, evident by him saying, "I don't think White Harbor is abandoned like the others."

"How do you know?" Hot Pie asked.

"There are no abandoned cars anywhere like in the other towns we've been through," Lommy explained. "I think someone's using them for some purpose."

"What purpose?" Hot Pie pushed. "And where are they?"

Lommy stopped, then looked and pointed to his right. "Probably in there."

Everyone halted and looked to where he was pointing. Arya looked over and saw a massive wall (likely nineteen feet high) made out of different sheets of metal vertically stacked in layers. Arya could clearly make out the smoke billowing out from beyond. "See the smoke?" she said when she noticed it, pointing. "There's people. Where there's smoke, there's fire."

"Then let's find a way in," Gendry said, leading the group towards the wall. They followed him, and when they got close, they began to look around for an entrance or a way to at the very least look inside beyond the wall. After a while of silent searching, Arya began getting frustrated when she couldn't see any way to look in.

Hot Pie must have felt the same way. "I think we should give up on getting in there. I don't see a way to get into here."

"_What do you lot want with White Harbor?_" a loud voice boomed from nearby. Arya and everyone else, all on edge, immediately looked over to the source of the noise. Standing before them was a fat man in makeshift armor. He was armed with a rifle, and on either side were two armed men, each with rifles of their own.

"We were just looking," Lommy tried to explain. Gendry noticed and walked up to him and nudges him in the ribs with his left shoulder to get him to not shoot himself (and the rest of the group) in the foot. "We weren't trying to rob– _OOF!_"

"Sir, we don't mean you any trouble," Gendry explained. Lommy looked irritated. "We just found this wall and got curious."

The fat man's eyes narrowed. "Hmph. You all look like you're scavengers. You part of a larger group?"

"No," Arya said. "Just us."

"Come with me."

* * *

Arya and the others sat in the back of a horse drawn cart as the fat man they'd encountered, who they learned was named Wendel Manderly, moved through the walled-off portion of White Harbor which, much to Arya's surprise, was bustling with people, reminding her of what life was like before the outbreak.

Currently, Wendel was in the process of taking the group to see Wyman Manderly, his father and the head of White Harbor. Apparently, Wyman had been the city mayor before the apocalypse, and he kept this title even after the dead began walking. After a while, Wendel pulled the cart up to the front of a tall government building. The guards who'd accompanied Wendel escorted the five in Gendry's group out of the cart and into the building, Wendel leading the way inside. He led them up a flight of stairs, and they wound up in an office.

Arya was the first inside after Wendel, and sitting behind a mahogany desk was the fattest man she'd ever seen. Mayor Wyman Manderly observed the five walk in, curiously eyeing them all. When everyone was inside, Wyman started talking as soon as the office door was closed. "Wendel, who are these people?"

"I found them outside peeking around at the wall," Wendel explained. "I brought them here for you to see."

Wyman eyed the group. From right to left, they were standing in the order of Hot Pie, Weasel, Arya, Gendry, and then Lommy. "Starting with you," Wyman said, pointing at Hot Pie. "Tell me who you are."

"Hot Pie," Hot Pie answered. Wyman looked at Weasel. Weasel shrunk back and tightly gripped Arya's hand. She was quiet as always. Arya did not want Weasel to feel uncomfortable by being asked questions by Wyman Manderly, so she answered for her. "That's Weasel. She doesn't talk much."

"And you are?"

"Arya."

When the introductions were finished after Gendry and Lommy introduced themselves, Wyman spoke again, saying, "Can I do anything for you?"

"Yes," Gendry answered. "We'd like food and shelter."

Wyman tapped his chin in thought before answering. "We can provide some food, but only temporary shelter."

Lommy's face twisted into one of aggravated surprise. "_Temporary? Why?!_"

"Because we're having a problem with rationing right now. The five of you can stay for a week before we cut you loose. That's it."

Lommy frowned, but he didn't say anything. Instead, Gendry spoke next as he crossed his arms. "Where can we stay?"

"The large hotel on Merman Street is where many of my people are kept," Wyman explained. "You'll be staying there for the week. When the seventh day has passed, you will leave White Harbor with a small amount of supplies we will provide you. While you are staying here, all of you will be expected to work in some capacity, and your little girl is not exempt. We need all the hands we can get right now."

* * *

That night, Arya sat up listening to the noises from the room next door. Every now and then, Lommy would screech, followed by a loud thud and loud laughter which sounded like a donkey braying. It made Arya wonder what was going on in that next room, but she was sure Gendry would try to put a stop to it–whatever stupid thing he was doing–if he were trying to sleep. It was likely that Hot Pie was egging Lommy on, but Arya didn't know for sure.

In the hotel, Arya and Weasel had been given a room to themselves while Hot Pie, Gendry, and Lommy had the other right next to theirs. Arya, focused on the noise, had her attention drawn away from it when Weasel tugged on her shirt. "Arya?"

Arya looked down at her. "Yes?"

"Where are we going to go after the week is over?"

"I don't know. That's up to Gendry."

Weasel was silent for a moment. "That makes me scared. Does he know what he's doing?"

Now Arya herself was silent. It seemed as if she and Weasel had the same train of thought regarding Gendry's lackluster leadership skills. "Weasel, don't be afraid," she said, ruffling the small girl's hair. "Let's think about something else. Have you practiced your reading?"

Weasel paused to think. "Not recently."

"Then let's find something," Arya said, beginning to search around the room to find something for Weasel to read. A while earlier, Arya had decided to teach Weasel how to read and write because she figured she needed to learn, and they had been making slow process at doing so. Eventually, Arya found a small book on a shelf in the room.

"Let's try this," Arya said, taking the book over to Weasel.

* * *

Throughout the previous two days, Arya and the others had gone on fishing trips and supply runs with Wyman Manderly's people. During the previous two days, Weasel had been on fishing excursions, but on this day, she accompanied Arya and Hot Pie on a supply run to the docks in White Harbor, which were widely unexplored. Arya knew that this likely meant they were infested with wights. Accompanying them were three inhabitants of White Harbor: Mikken, Bartimus, and Osha. Mikken had with him a machete, Bartimus a pistol, and Osha a spear. Elsewhere, Gendry and Lommy were busy helping others who lived in White Harbor fish.

"How far are the docks from the rest of town?" Hot Pie asked as the group of six proceeded to make their way to the water.

"Not that far," Mikken answered, tightly gripping his machete. "Be on guard. Those wights are everywhere around here."

This comment made Weasel grip Arya's hand harder. Weasel had been holding on to Arya's hand tightly before, but now it felt like an iron force grip. In the girl's other hand, she had a dagger. Arya knew that Weasel hated wights, and she also knew that Weasel did not really trust anyone outside of their own group of five as well.

As they walked, moving beyond what was considered White Harbor's "safe area", Arya began looking around for wights.

"We'll head towards the water first," Mikken said. "We'll spread out and search for supplies White Harbor can use."

They continued down to the water, and they stopped to talk when they were right next to it. It was agreed that the group would split into two groups: one consisting of Arya, Weasel, and Mikken, and another consisting of Hot Pie, Osha, and Bartimus.

"So it's settled, then," Bartimus said after the discussion about the two groups was finalized. "It'll be me and Osha and Hot P–_aargh!_"

Everyone else jumped back when Bartimus was suddenly pulled into the water by two wights who'd emerged from the water, each covered in moss and decaying. Bartimus fired off two shots, but it was no use. Osha ran to grab him, but it was too late; a large red spot began growing in the water almost immediately after he was pulled under the water.

"_There are more of them!_" Hot Pie shrieked. Arya swiveled around and noticed that there were indeed more wights quickly approaching. They were surrounded, and Arya knew that everyone else knew that they'd have to fight their way out.

"Stay here," Arya instructed Weasel as she drew each of her blades and charged at a wight, stabbing it in the knee with her kitchen knife before putting the cleaver through its skull. Nearby her, the others who were still alive struggled with doing battle with the wights in the area. Hot Pie smashed his pipe over one's head as Mikken tore off one's arm with his machete.

"_This was a bad idea to come out this far!_" Mikken shouted as he swung again and bore his machete through the same wight's skull.

"You _THINK?!_" Osha shouted as she speared a wight through the belly and flung the decaying thing back into the water where it'd just come out, ripping her spear out of its rotting body in the process. "We're getting eaten alive out here!" She paused from the conversation to spear two more wights through the head. Nearby, Arya had stabbed another wight's brain through the eye. Hot Pie was furiously beating down on another's head with his pipe. Weasel just watched, shaking with fear.

After Arya put down another wight, she turned and saw Mikken beginning to get swarmed. He was trying to fend off one wight while two more were approaching from behind. Wanting to prevent Mikken from winding up like Bartimus, Arya ran over to the wights approaching him, leapt into the air, and used her weight and momentum to tackle them both. Knocking them both over, Arya stabbed one in the skull while the other got right up and growled as it crawled over to her.

As it moved, Arya struggled to pull the kitchen knife out of the wight. After a short while, she gave it one more hard jerk before the blade snapped off of the handle, much to her dismay. However, she still had her cleaver, and she brought it down in a downward swing as Mikken finished off the wight he was focused on. He noticed what Arya was doing and was about to open his mouth to say something, but a shriek cut him off.

Arya looked over to where the noise was coming from and saw a wight biting into Osha's neck. Immediately, she ran over and tackled the wight like what she'd done before, pulling it away from Osha. She cut into its head with the cleaver and left it embedded in the thing's head as she heard Osha gurgling. Arya crawled over to her and looked her over. All around, the remaining wights were put down by the others.

"Osha! Osha, you…"

"_No, no, Arya…_" Osha said through coughs of blood choking her. Her eyes then widened, as if she'd just then recalled something important. "_You… y…_"

Another round of choking cut her off.

"_What?!_" Arya shouted.

"_Your brother… Rickon, he…_"

Arya's eyed widened. Had Rickon been in White Harbor? Was he still present somewhere? However, before Osha could provide an answer, she died of her wound. Arya looked down at Osha's body for a second before Osha lunged back to life as a wight, grabbing Arya. The latter shouted in surprise and fell back, recalling that she'd left her cleaver in the other wight's skull. It was too far away for her to reach, but she didn't have to; after struggling with fending off the undead Osha, the latter stopped moving when Weasel of all people suddenly gained a burst of courage, ran up from behind, and put her dagger in the back of Osha's head.

Arya flung Osha off of herself, and she climbed to her feet, looking down at Weasel. The latter looked up at Arya, and the two locked eyes for a moment. Weasel was quietly crying, and her hands were shaking. Before Arya could console Weasel, Mikken began yelling.

"_WE NEED TO GO! NOW!_"

Arya, Hot Pie, and Weasel didn't need to be told twice; all of them–Mikken included–turned to run back the way they came.

* * *

"What do you mean _'leave'?!_" Lommy shrieked, his hands balled into fists. It'd been a day since Weasel saved Arya's life, and now the latter and the others were rounded up into the office of an irate Wyman Manderly.

"Our agreement has ended," Wyman hissed, then pointed an accusing finger at Arya, Weasel, and Hot Pie. "These three did nothing to prevent the deaths of two of White Harbor's citizens! There should be no reason as to why I continue to let you all reside here for the rest of the week! You all must leave my walls immediately, and you're not getting any of our supplies, either!"

The five left then, leaving Wyman's building to go and find the minivan, if it hadn't been stolen or destroyed by then. After they left the building, the group was stopped by a familiar face.

"Arya!"

Arya turned and saw Mikken approaching, holding his machete. At first, Arya thought he was going to yell at the group, but she was surprised when he actually held his machete out for her to take.

"Take this as a token of my gratitude for saving my neck earlier," he said. "It's yours now."

Eyebrows raised in surprise, Arya gripped the handle and observed the machete, bringing it closer to herself. With her free hand, she poked the tip of the machete with her right index finger. "Sharp," she commented in approval. "Like a needle."

* * *

After leaving White Harbor's front gate, the group of five made their way back to the minivan. On the way over, they talked.

Hot Pie looked over at Gendry. "Where are we going now?"

"Somewhere else," Gendry answered.

_Wow,_ Arya thought. _Way to go, Gendry. Awesome. Great answer._

"What exactly happened at the docks?" Lommy asked.

"We got attacked by wights," Arya answered. "Those two people died, we didn't."

Arya omitted the details about Osha mentioning Rickon. Where did she know Rickon? When? Where was he now? She figured that dwelling on this would bother her for a while, so she tried forcing it out of mind.

"And Wyman blamed you three?" Lommy said.

"Yes," Arya answered. "Idiocy, if you ask me."

Lommy laughed in his braying donkey laugh. "Yeah."

"So who's refilling the gas?" Hot Pie asked. At this point, they were nearing the street where they'd left the minivan a few days earlier. "None of us ever bothered to talk about–"

"_No, wait!_ This minivan is probably rigged to _explode_ or something!"

That made everyone stop. Someone else had found the minivan before they could get back to it.

"Maybe, Elmar, but it's definitely bait. Who'd just leave something like this out in the open?"

_Us,_ Arya thought.

"_Who's talking to them?_" Lommy asked quietly.

"I will," Arya said with a tone of confidence in her voice.

"So will I," Gendry added, tightly gripping his sledgehammer as Arya drew her machete. They both turned on to the road where the minivan was located while the other three stayed behind. When Arya was sure that she and Gendry were close enough to the minivan for the two scavengers to hear, she shouted, "_WHO ARE YOU?!_"

The two scavengers, who turned out to be boys around Arya's age, shrieked and pulled back from the minivan. Arya's eyes widened. She recognized them. In fact, the two of them, Elmar Frey and Edric Dayne, were former classmates of hers back in Winterfell. She was sure they'd both been on the bus with her the day everything began, but she wasn't too sure.

Elmar and Edric each paused and looked her over. Arya and the two observed each other in a moment of odd silence. Gendry raised an eyebrow and looked over at Arya. "Do you know them?"

"Yes," she said, then looked them over. "Elmar? Edric? Do you remember me?"

Edric was the first to take a step forward. "Arya? Arya _Stark?_"

* * *

After the minivan's gas tank had been filled again, the group set off to go south, towards Moat Cailin. Now in the group were Elmar Frey and Edric Dayne. They'd introduced themselves to everyone else, and Gendry had reluctantly let them into the group. The minivan was now full of people, and Arya knew that there would be problems with food with two new mouthes to feed. However, she was at least content that these were people she knew. However, she was way more familiar with Edric than Elmar.

Arya hoped that the others would get along with them well. She suspected that it would take a while for Gendry and the others to warm up to them, especially Weasel.

"When should we reach Moat Cailin?" Hot Pie asked.

"Not for a while," Gendry answered as he pulled onto the highway, away from White Harbor. "It's a long ways off."


	5. Companions (2013)

**Chapter Five:**

**Companions (2013)**

* * *

The night before they were to cross the Twins Bridge, Arya and the others exited the minivan, a few minutes earlier pulled over on the side of the highway. Nearby, an abandoned, rusted car sat still. When they pulled over, Arya could see in the moonlight that the car's windows were all smashed out, its hood was open (revealing that parts of the engine were missing), and all of the tires were gone. _Looted, no doubt,_ Arya thought after getting a look at the car with Lommy. The latter had hoped to search the car for usable parts, but now it was apparent that someone had beaten them to it.

Currently, Arya and Lommy were making their way back to the others, who were huddled around a fire Gendry and Hot Pie had made. Within the past few months, Lommy had taken to wearing green gloves he'd found that made his hands and part of his forearms look green from a distance. He was currently wearing them.

"Shame the car didn't have anything we can use," Lommy said.

"Everything was probably taken when everything happened," Arya suggested.

"The wights can catch us if something happens to the car," Lommy said. "We need more supplies so we can keep moving."

Arya had to agree. Every decent and good-looking car they found, they siphoned gas out of it. Despite the fact that the minivan was starting to look beaten and rusted itself, it still worked. However, Arya remembered the sedan and knew the minivan would have to be abandoned someday. "The minivan's fine, Lommy. The wights won't catch us."

Lommy raised an eyebrow, and his voice took on a jovial tone. "_Really?_"

"No, they won't."

Lommy grinned, raising his hands into the air and wiggling his fingers. "They're coming to _get you,_ Arya!"

Arya softly sighed and shook her head in disapproval as they neared the fire. When they got close, Elmar looked upward and noticed them approaching.

"Took you long enough," he said as Arya sat down in between Gendry and Weasel.

Arya shook off Elmar's rudeness; while Lommy had stopped being nasty to everyone in the group, Elmar had seemingly stepped into his place. Elmar only really got along well with Edric and Lommy, and what made Arya very angry is that Elmar often targeted Weasel with his bullying. She shouted at him to shut up when he did it, and it almost always led to a fistfight Gendry or Edric or Hot Pie would have to break up.

"What are we eating tonight?" Lommy asked, looking over at Hot Pie.

"What little we have," Hot Pie explained as he began to pass food around. After a short while, Arya had a bag of pretzels. Next to her, Weasel had a small cup of applesauce. While eating, Arya glanced over at Weasel frequently. She wanted to make sure she was eating. From what Arya could see, Weasel had stopped eating dirt and bugs for the most part, but she knew it still happened behind her back, evident by the dirt she sometimes found crusted around Weasel's mouth and Elmar making fun of her for it.

As everyone ate, Gendry spoke, saying, "We're going to cross the Twins Bridge tomorrow." There was a pause before he spoke again, Gendry swallowing a mouthful of food before he kept talking. "We'll get into Seagard after and look for food there."

"That's it, Gendry?" Edric asked, crossing his arms. He'd already finished eating the apple slices he'd been given. "No other plans?"

"I mean we'll find weapon-related things, and we could also–"

"No, I mean the _food,_" Edric corrected. "We're about to run out, and all we've been doing is scavenging this past year. I want to stop for once and set up shop somewhere to stay permanently."

Elmar nodded. "Yeah."

"And where do you suggest we do that?" Gendry asked, crossing his arms. "Because we'll likely get kicked out of every group, just like with White Harbor."

"Gendry, do you even have a plan outside of 'run and collect whatever we can find'?" Arya asked, raising an eyebrow. "Because I agree. We're just going from town to town looking for things to–"

"_Arya, stop._" Gendry's tone suggested he didn't want to hear anything else out of her or anyone else. "We've been doing fine."

"No, not really," Arya said. "How many times have we almost run out of food? How many times have we nearly frozen to death in winter? How many times has Weasel gotten sick–"

As she began to finish her sentence, she cut herself off when she saw Weasel wasn't sitting next to her anymore. Arya's heart lurched into her throat. "_Weasel?_" She shot upward and spun around. "_WEASEL?!_"

Arya saw Weasel hunched over behind the front of the minivan. Immediately, she walked over to her and saw what she was doing when she got over there.

"_Weasel!_"

Weasel quickly spun around with a surprised look, making a startled "_Mmf!_" noise. Arya looked and saw that Weasel's mouth was smeared in dirt. Her eyes narrowed.

Arya sighed. "Weasel, spit it out."

Weasel frowned, and she opened her mouth. A wad of dirt spilled out and landed on the asphalt with a wet plop. Also present in the saliva-laced dirt was a live cockroach. Frowning, Arya addressed Weasel again. "I thought you were done with this."

Weasel frowned. "…Sorry, Arya…"

Weasel followed Arya back to the fire, and when Elmar got a look at Weasel, he burst out laughing. Arya didn't think it was funny at all.

* * *

Upon reaching the Twins Bridge, a large bridge with two roads paralleling each other, Gendry stopped the minivan and got out with everyone else. Much to Arya's aggravation, there was another traffic jam, this one being on the bridge. It was impossible for Gendry to direct the car around the traffic jam, so they were forced to abandon the minivan. Everyone who had a backpack–Gendry, Arya, Hot Pie, Lommy, Elmar, and Edric–gathered whatever supplies they could take from the minivan and left the vehicle.

"Follow me," Gendry said before the group began to wade their way through the cars on the Twins Bridge. "We'll figure something out when we get into Seagard."

Arya felt like lobbing a crabapple at Gendry's head. _You have no plan, do you?_

Despite her complaints about Gendry, Arya quite liked his company. If she were given a choice, there was a chance she would likely try and tough out the apocalypse with just him and Weasel. However, on the other hand, she had grown attached to Hot Pie and Lommy as well, and Edric and Elmar were starting to grow on her (though more of the former than the latter). Arya could tell that Gendry appreciated her as well; this was evident by him trusting her enough to put her in the position of his second in command.

In front of the group, five wights which were wandering aimlessly on the asphalt stirred, grumbling, then turned to look at the seven in the process of crossing the bridge. Arya pulled out her machete, and Gendry tightly gripped his sledgehammer. Arya was sure that behind them, the others were gripping their own weapons as well.

The first two wights made for Arya and Gendry. Arya charged, and she swung her machete upwards, cutting through where the jaw met the neck and rammed it through to the brain. Next to her, Gendry knocked his own wight down and smashed its skull like it was a stale melon. Lommy, Hot Pie, Elmar, and Edric ran from in between them and headed for the others. Weasel stayed back, tightly gripping her dagger. Arya didn't blame Weasel for deciding to stay back; ever since the incident at White Harbor, Weasel absolutely hated situations like this. She hated it before, but now it seemed like the dislike and aversion towards these things was more intense.

Nearby, Hot Pie, Lommy, Elmar, and Edric made for the other wights as Arya got to work with wrenching the machete out of her own wight's skull. It'd gotten stuck, and it became loose and came out after four good, hard jerks. Arya, Gendry, and Weasel proceeded towards the others, who were in the process of fighting the other wights. Lommy had just speared one through the eye, and Hot Pie and Elmar were in the process of beating one's head in, respectively wielding a metal pipe and a metal bat. Edric had just then rammed his knife through the final wight's right temple and into its brain.

When the wights were dealt with, the group continued to cross the Twins Bridge, and when they reached Seagard, they all got together in one big huddle to discuss what to do next.

"Two groups," Gendry said. "We'll search Seagard that way. We'll meet back up here at dusk."

"Who's in what group?" Elmar asked.

"You're going to be with Edric, Arya, and Weasel," Gendry answered. "I'm going to look for weapons and a new vehicle with Hot Pie and Lommy. We'll meet back up here at dusk."

Arya frowned. She didn't want herself and Weasel to be stuck with Elmar. If she were head of the whole crew and picked the groups, she would be with Gendry and Weasel, and everyone else would have their own massive search party. Regardless, Arya realized she'd have to work with what she'd been given. _At least I'm with Weasel,_ she thought.

* * *

Walking through the derelict town of Seagard, Arya and the three others with her looked around for abandoned businesses where they could scavenge for food. In her backpack, Arya carried some food taken from the minivan: a few cans, and a handful of carrots they'd found before arriving.

"Are you sure there's anything left?" Edric asked.

"What do you mean?" Arya asked.

"_Food,_" Edric emphasized. "I think everything's been picked clean."

"You never can be too sure," Arya said. "There could be something. That's why we're all looking."

Elmar began snickering. "Maybe Weasel here can find some dead cockroaches or more dirt. If she can learn how to talk, she can tell us what she wants to eat besides bugs and dirt."

Arya frowned, then decided to speak up when she heard Weasel sniffle. Arya turned around to face Elmar, and she let him have it. "_Elmar, will you leave her alone?! She's only four years old!_"

Arya wasn't entirely sure if this was true; while Weasel had been two when they found her, it was clear that a few years had passed since the outbreak started, evident by the amount of winters the group had lived through. However, Arya hadn't kept track of them, and she was sure that she herself was now at least pushing mid adolescence since everything started when she was twelve. She knew that Gendry was sixteen when everything started, so Arya figured that, at the most, he was almost twenty. Hot Pie, Lommy, Edric, and Elmar were likely around her own age.

Elmar frowned, and his eyes narrowed. "Arya, don't act like it's not true!" He then pointed an accusing finger at Weasel, who turned around to look at him. "That's all she's good for! Eating _BUGS_ and _MUD!_"

Arya immediately stormed over to Elmar, then grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pulled him forward so that their eyes were inches apart. Elmar flinched, then balled his hands into fists. "_Listen, you–_"

"Hey," Edric interrupted, prevented what would likely have been a fistfight.

"_What?!_" Arya and Elmar snapped in unison, turning their heads to look in Edric's direction. And then they saw what he saw: a supermarket.

* * *

The supermarket's parking lot had five abandoned cars, and Arya could see that the lights were out within the store. She wasn't surprised that the lights were out; most electrical things had stopped working a short while after the apocalypse hit. The doors, once functional sliding glass doors, were forced open by the group, and they stepped inside.

_Whatever food wasn't grabbed at the start's likely spoiled by now,_ Arya judged. The only light provided to the group came from the front doors and the large, gaping hole in the top of the ceiling. Where the hole came from, Arya didn't care to know. The hole oddly reminded her of Lommy; recently, he had been using excess gas the group collected and other materials like propane and fertilizer he found in places to craft makeshift explosives. A few times, he'd nearly blown parts of his hands off, but he was never wounded. This had been going on for a few months, and Lommy seemed to be improving more as time went on.

"Let's stick together," Edric suggested. "I don't want any of us to get lost from each other in this big, dark building."

Everyone agreed, and they began to move in one big huddle through the store. Weasel tried to stay in the center of the group. Arya could feel Weasel's fingers tightly wrap around her left hand. She didn't mind. Arya had no doubt that Elmar would have made fun of Weasel if he saw her holding Arya's hand (he'd done this before), and this would end with Arya likely punching Elmar in the face or the gut.

The group entered the aisle to the farthest left, and Arya spoke, saying, "Look through the shelves. If there's nothing, go to the next aisle and look."

They got to looking then. From what they could tell, the aisle they were in once stocked bread and condiments. However, everything was gone. Frowning, Arya directed everyone to another aisle. "Let's go into the next aisle."

This process repeated for twenty-eight minutes. In every aisle, they found nothing. _I was right,_ Arya figured as they entered one of the last two aisles. _This store was picked clean._

"I don't think we'll find anything," Elmar whined.

"We might," Edric replied. "Be patient."

Arya and Weasel walked ahead of them, and Weasel let go of the former's hand. Weasel scooted away from Arya for a short while, and she got on her hands and knees and began to search under the shelves, just like what she'd done with every other aisle before. Arya had to admit it was a clever idea, in case something rolled beneath the aisles in the chaos that'd happened in the beginning days of the apocalypse. As Arya, Elmar, and Edric searched the shelves, Weasel looked beneath.

"_Hey!_" Weasel said, catching everyone's attention, crawling back with an unopened cup of applesauce in her hand. As Weasel continued, Arya noticed movement coming from under the shelf. "I found this–"

The wight that'd been under the shelf, which Weasel hadn't seen, growled as it crawled out from under it, tightly gripping Weasel's right leg with its rotting, bony fingers. Weasel screamed like she'd been shot in the abdomen and fell to the linoleum floor. Immediately, Arya sprung into action and drove her machete into the wight's head, cleaving it open with three good, hard swings. When the wight died, Weasel scrambled away from it and curled up in a weepy ball. Nearby, Edric picked up the applesauce from the floor and put it in his backpack.

Arya put her machete into its sheath on her back and hurried over to Weasel, kneeling down on both knees in front of her before she gently wrapped Weasel in a reassuring hug. In turn, Weasel quickly wrapped her arms around Arya's form and slowly began to stand up with her.

"You ready to keep going?" Arya asked her.

Weasel, crying quietly and slightly shaking with fear, nodded.

"You did a good job, finding that cup of applesauce," Arya said, hoping the compliment would lift Weasel's spirits. A small hint of a smile appeared on the girl's face, though she still sniffled and cried.

"Attention, gang," Elmar sighed as he watched Arya and Weasel, sounding annoyed. "We still have food to find."

Arya glared at Elmar, the fierce look in her eyes causing Elmar to back up a few feet, putting his hands into the air. Edric chuckled to himself when he saw this. Arya gently took Weasel's smaller hand in her own and addressed her. "We have to keep looking for food, Weasel."

Weasel, looking up at Arya, sniffled and nodded in understanding.

The four then made their way into the final aisles they hadn't checked. Again, Weasel looked beneath the shelves while the others looked through them. Much to everyone's delight, Weasel found more food that'd fallen beneath the shelves. After cycling through the final aisle, the group counted what they'd found, and they found that they'd scavenged three cups of applesauce and ten canned items.

"More than I expected to find in here," Edric commented. "I really thought everything would be gone at this point."

"So did I," Arya replied. "I really thought everything would be gone, too."

As they made their way to the front door, Arya held out her arm and stopped the others when she saw five wights shambling around near the front. Apparently, they'd gotten inside the store while Arya and the others were searching for food.

"What do we do?" Edric asked.

Arya pulled her machete back out. "Fight through them."

Arya, Edric, and Elmar all shouted loudly as they charged at the wights. The wights, noticing them, turned around and shambled over to them. Arya neared a wight and, as she smelled its carrion breath when its mouth opened, used this to her advantage as she rammed her machete through the roof of its mouth to its brain. The tip of the machete stuck out through the top of its head.

Nearby, Edric had knocked his own wight down and was repeatedly stabbing its face, hoping to jab the brain. Elmar was fending off the other three wights. Apparently, the buffoon had the bright idea to try and fight all three at once. Yanking the machete out of the mouth of the wight she'd just killed, Arya looked over and saw Elmar struggling with fending of the wights he was doing battle with, his pudgy body jiggling as he swiveled around.

And then one grabbed him by his hair.

Hollering and flailing his arms around, Elmar was pulled back, and Arya charged at the wight before it could have a chance to bite into Elmar's greasy flesh. She jumped and tackled it, causing herself, the wight, and Elmar to come tumbling down to the floor. The back of the wight's head made a wet cracking noise as it hit the floor. Before it could pick itself back up, Weasel ran over and jammed her dagger through its right eye as hard as she could, pushing directly into its brain.

Arya and Elmar didn't have time to thank Weasel. Instead, they jumped upwards and made for the remaining two wights. Elmar cracked one upside the head with his bat, a cracking noise emitting through the surrounding area. Adjacent to Elmar, Arya severed the arm of her own wight before lunging forward and running her machete through its brain after tackling the decaying thing to the ground.

* * *

After leaving the supermarket, though some had nearly died in there, everyone was generally pleased that some food had been found, even if all the food in the store should have been depleted long ago. Leaving the store, Arya looked into the sky and noticed that it was the middle of the day. Frowning, Arya realized that her small group wouldn't have as much time as she wished to have to find food in Seagard. This made her wonder if Gendry, Hot Pie, and Lommy were having any luck out there themselves.

"Where should we go now?" Edric asked Arya.

Arya thought for a moment. "Let's look around this area."

"Like the parking lot?" Elmar asked.

"Beyond the parking lot," Arya explained, pointing towards where they were before entering the store. "Down there."

They got to walking then, and before they got to the corner of the store, Arya heard it first: the sound of something walking. Because of how far away the sound seemed to be, Arya guessed that whatever was making this noise, it was around the corner, on the side of the store.

As the group kept walking, the sound got closer, and everyone stopped when they saw what it was: a starving German Shepherd appeared from around the corner, seemingly walking around aimlessly.

"Oh," Arya said, looking over the dog. She hadn't seen a dog in years, and this was the first one she'd seen. Seeing the poor, shambling thing walk around made her feel sorry for it. She approached, and Elmar watched uneasily.

"Hey," Arya said, getting the dog's attention, "you alright?"

Arya knelt down on one knee and began petting the dog. The dog stopped walking and observed her. Arya then noticed that it had a pink collar, but no name tag.

"_ARYA!_"

Elmar's shouting made both Arya and the dog flinch, the two of them simultaneously looking over at Elmar, who looked concerned.

"_Arya, get away from that thing!_"

"Why?"

"It might be _rabid!_"

"I don't think it's rabid," Arya said. "Look, it's got a collar. I'm certain it's vaccinated."

Arya, remembering that the dog looked hungry, removed her backpack, opened it, and began searching for the carrots she'd taken from the minivan. When she found one to use, she pulled it from the bag and held it out for the dog. The dog, now curious, sniffed the carrot and began eating.

Elmar sighed, annoyed. "Arya, _what are you doing?_"

"Feeding it," Arya answered.

"Arya, _come on!_" Elmar shouted suddenly. Weasel flinched when he started yelling. "If you feed it, it gets _attached!_"

Arya ignored him. By that point, the German Shepherd had eaten half of the carrot.

Elmar's eyes narrowed. "_Arya!_"

When the dog was finished, it looked at Arya, as if it expected more food from her.

Arya looked over at the others. "I'm taking it with me," she announced.

Elmar and Edric looked at her like she'd grown a second head. As always, Weasel was quiet. Finally, Edric was the one to break the silence. "Arya, are you kidding me?"

Arya raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"_We can't take care of that thing!_" Elmar hissed. Arya frowned as he continued. "Arya, we barely got enough food from the store, and we had just enough for the rest of us back in the car! And now you want to take in a new mouth to feed? And a _dog_, no less? We can't take it in, Arya. Just leave it to starve out here!"

Arya, though she wanted to fight Elmar and Edric on this, knew deep down that they were right. The group had a food shortage already, and what they'd just found in the store only barely helped. She'd already taken a great liking to the German Shepherd, however, and now she felt sad and angry being pushed into leaving it to fend for herself.

Arya took a deep, shuddering breath and spoke, resigning herself to the realities of the situation. "_Fine, fine…_"

When the group began to walk away from the dog, Arya began getting angry again, feeling rage towards Elmar and Edric, though mostly towards the former. Arya began to think that she felt angry at Elmar for most of the things he did and said, and she wondered why Gendry kept putting up with him instead of throwing him out of the group. Then again, Lommy was like him when he first met Arya, and they'd grown to appreciate each other over time.

_Hopefully, Elmar will be the same,_ Arya thought.

* * *

Just as dusk was coming in, Arya, Weasel, Elmar, and Edric made it back to the Twins Bridge after taking a few hours to search for more food. Gendry, Hot Pie, and Lommy were there as well, the three of them standing in front of an RV that wasn't there earlier. Each group made a beeline for the other one, and before they ran into each other, they stopped to talk, but Arya didn't. Arya handed her backpack to Gendry, and she shuffled past the others towards the nearby curb.

She sat down, and she tried ignoring the others, watching the cracked, gray asphalt instead. Weasel hurried after her and sat down next to her. Arya had no doubts that Elmar and Edric would blab to the others about the incident with the dog, and Arya wanted to not overhear that discussion. In fact, she wanted to be anywhere but that street in Seagard in front of that bridge. At least Weasel was there.

_Just me and Gendry and Weasel,_ Arya thought bitterly. _If we ditch the others, we can make it on our own out there. Lommy can stay and be Elmar's best buddy if he wants. Hot Pie can come with us, too. He could stay with the others as a different choice._

"Arya?" Weasel said. "Are you okay?"

Arya looked over at the smaller girl sitting next to her. She took a deep breath and exhaled before answering, realizing that she was only thinking of ditching the group with Gendry and Weasel because she was upset about the outcome of the situation with the dog. Since she'd fed the dog, Arya wondered if it was out there somewhere in Seagard looking for her after it'd been provided with the carrot.

"I'm just upset right now, Weasel," Arya answered. "Nothing to concern yourself with."

"Okay," Weasel said simply. She paused to fidget and look at her feet. While Weasel's head was turned away, Arya got a look at her. Weasel's black hair had gotten longer, and it was greasy and even matted in places. The girl's face and clothes were smattered with dirt, but so were everyone else's face and clothes. Arya could not remember the last time she or anyone else was able to take a shower. Even while the group stayed in White Harbor, there had been no functioning showers available for them all to use. Everyone smelled like garbage, and Arya thought that this would make them blend in with the wights, but it didn't.

After a while, Hot Pie waddled over to Arya and Weasel. "Hey," he said.

Arya looked up at him. "What is it?"

"Gendry found an RV. We're getting in and leaving now. He says we're going south."

Arya looked over at the RV, and she climbed to her feet, Weasel following suit as well. The three of them began walking over to the RV, just as Lommy and Elmar began to climb inside. As Arya made her way to the door, Weasel–of all people–stopped everyone when she began yelling.

"_DOG!_"

Everyone looked towards the nearest stop sign, and the same German Shepherd from before came walking around the corner. Arya couldn't help but snicker; apparently, the dog had followed them back to the Twins Bridge. Lommy and Elmar came tumbling out of the RV to see what was going on.

"_Wow,_" Elmar sighed. Lommy burst into a fit of laughter.

Gendry looked over at Arya. "That the dog from the store?"

"Yes," Arya said. "It has the same collar."

They watched as the dog approached, and it stopped in front of Arya and looked up at her, as if asking for more food. Arya looked at the dog for a moment, then turned to look at Gendry, feeling hopeful. "Can we keep it?"

Gendry shrugged. "Sure. Why not?"

Elmar recoiled as if slapped. Edric raised an eyebrow. The former immediately began storming over to Gendry, mumbling, "No, no, no, no, no" repeatedly.

Gendry turned to look down at Elmar. "Elmar, what is it?"

"We can't take in a _dog!_" Elmar hissed. "We have barely any _food!_ That thing has who knows how many diseases and parasites in it–"

"It can hunt for its own food, like rabbits and squirrels," Gendry said. "I can tell."

"How?" Elmar asked.

"It's survived for this long on its own," Gendry explained. "I mean where's it getting its food from?"

Edric stepped in then. "Gendry, _come on!_" He looked flabbergasted. "Gendry, this is a _horrendous_ idea!"

"You know what?" Gendry announced. "We'll put it to a vote. If you are fine with Arya keeping the dog, raise your hand."

Arya, Weasel, Lommy, and Gendry raised their hands, leaving Edric, Elmar, and Hot Pie as the ones who lost the vote four to three. "Okay, then, so it's settled," Gendry said, then turning to face Arya. "Arya, you can keep the dog, but it's your responsibility. None of ours."

Gendry looked at everyone else. "Everyone, get in the RV. We're leaving Seagard right now."

* * *

In the days following the group leaving Seagard to head southeast, the German Shepherd began to get healthier after being fed a number of times, and Arya one day found herself sitting outside the RV with the dog and Weasel. Both girls were on their knees, observing the animal. Weasel looked at the dog, as if contemplating something, then looked at Arya.

Arya noticed. "What is it, Weasel?"

"Can… can I pet her?" Weasel asked carefully.

Arya smiled. "Of course you can, Weasel." She gestured at the dog's fur. "Go right ahead."

Weasel gingerly reached her hand out and stroked the dog's fur with her fingers. The dog didn't seem to mind. Weasel spoke as she pet the dog, asking Arya, "Have you named her?"

Arya nodded. "I have."

"What's her name?"

"Nymeria."

* * *

Sitting in the front seat next to Gendry, who was currently driving down a desolate road, Arya watched said road. All around, she noticed as some of the leaves of the trees surrounding them were beginning to turn yellow. It was spring, and soon enough, autumn would arrive in all its glory. Between them, Nymeria slept quietly on the floor of the RV.

"Thanks for standing up for me," Arya told Gendry as they kept driving. It was early in the morning, so everyone else was asleep. The sun had just come up. It was common for Arya and Gendry to be awake first.

"When?" Gendry asked.

"A few weeks ago, when you said I could keep Nymeria, and we had the vote."

"A good decision on my part," Gendry said. "She's helped us hunt, right?"

This was true; Nymeria had proven to be a great companion for hunting. Arya nodded in response to Gendry. "Yeah."

Arya, though she still disapproved of Gendry's leadership skills sometimes, felt as of she'd grown closer to her good friend over the years. It seemed to her that the two of them had a mutual respect and appreciation of each other that the others in the group didn't seem to have. Arya definitely picked up on it, and she was sure that Gendry had dropped a few hints here and there that there was definitely a _connection_ of sorts.

Arya had the road atlas in her lap and flipped through it, hoping to see where they were going next. Ever since leaving Seagard, the group had been out in the woods in between it and the next town looking for food and hunting. Recently, Gendry had decided that they needed to move to somewhere else again. Arya scanned the pages of the road atlas, and she quickly noticed a big area with a label above it, its name. It looked like a small city or a large town. The fact that the group was headed there next was confirmed to Arya when she saw a green sign nearby with the location's name adorning it.

**OLDSTONES**


	6. Rip and Tear (2014)

**NOTE: I am dreadfully sorry for the long wait. I have been really dragging my feet with this story. I will try to avoid this in the future.**

* * *

**Chapter Six:**

**Rip and Tear (2014)**

* * *

"Yeah, I understand that, it's just…" Hot Pie said, trailing off as he spoke with Arya. "…I just don't see anyone else in charge besides him."

Currently, it was night out, and Arya and Hot Pie were outside the RV, discussing various things. Eventually, the topic of discussion had shifted to Gendry, and Arya had let it be known to Hot Pie that she didn't think Gendry had a plan. Hot Pie seemed to partly agree and partly disagree.

"I'm not saying he should step down, I'm just saying he doesn't have an idea of where we're going," Arya explained. "We've just been running to nowhere for years now."

In the sky above them, a low growl of thunder made itself known. It'd been continuously raining heavily for a few days, and Arya was now beginning to think that it would cease soon. She hoped that this would be the case.

Hot Pie paused for a moment to think about Arya's words. "Yeah, yeah, you're right. That… that really is what we've been doing, just moving without stopping somewhere. I mean the closest we had was White Harbor, but we got kicked out when those people you were with died. If we stayed, it would have just been a week."

"Was it just a week?" Arya asked, trying to remember herself. It had been so long since she was at White Harbor that she'd let it slip from her mind regarding the details of Wyman Manderly's deal with her group.

"Hey, I'm just happy to be getting to a new town soon," Hot Pie said. "We've been staying out in the woods ever since that disaster in Oldstones."

Arya frowned when she thought of that event. Oldstones did indeed have lots of supplies to be scavenged and many cars of which to siphon gas out of, but there were many instances in which people were nearly bitten. Before they left, Lommy had decided to use one of his experimental bombs on a rusted out car. Much to his delight, it worked, but the loud noise had drawn out many wights, and several people were almost killed.

Arya nodded. As she spoke again, she felt a drop of rain hit her right cheek. "I agree with you."

Hot Pie looked up as Arya answered. Apparently, he'd been hit by the rain, too. "The rain's here."

"Let's get inside the RV, then," Arya said. She entered the RV, and Hot Pie followed. Hot Pie closed the door behind himself.

Inside, the first thing Arya heard was "Don't forget to tighten it."

She looked over to the source of the noise, and she saw Lommy sitting in the back with Elmar and Edric. Lommy had several of his homemade explosives sitting before him (including two Molotov cocktails), and he was currently working on constructing a third Molotov cocktail.

"I won't," Lommy said.

Arya trusted he wouldn't accidentally cause the RV to catch fire and subsequently explode in the middle of the night. Arya ignored them and walked over to the front of the RV. Gendry was sitting in the front seat, and Nymeria was asleep between them. Arya plopped down into the chair next to Gendry's own seat.

"We're going into Fairmarket tomorrow, right?" Arya asked, catching Gendry's attention.

Gendry shook his head. "Day after tomorrow. We're going hunting and fishing tomorrow."

"Alright, fine," Arya said before she shifted into a comfortable position and closed her eyes, trying to get some sleep. She hoped that Lommy would shut up for a while so she could actually fall sleep.

* * *

The next day, Gendry drove for a short while before he stopped the RV and parked it a short distance outside of the entrance of the ravaged town of Fairmarket. Even from a distance, Arya could see that Fairmarket was ripped to shreds, with several burned-out buildings with the glass of the front windows shattered. When Gendry stopped the RV, he ordered everyone out.

"Alright, we're going into Fairmarket tomorrow. Today, we're going to hunt and fish."

"Who's doing what?" Edric asked.

"Arya and I are going hunting with Hot Pie and Lommy. Nymeria's coming with us, too. The rest of you are fishing. We're very close to a river, so the others I didn't list are going to fish for the day."

Arya frowned. While she would like spending time with Gendry, Hot Pie, and Lommy, she was upset that Weasel would be with Elmar. She was fine with Edric being in Weasel's presence, but not Elmar. The latter hadn't let up regarding harassing Weasel, and Arya was past her breaking point with it. Arya watched as Weasel, Elmar, and Edric all simultaneously hurried over to the RV to open the storage compartment to get their hands on the buckets and spears the group used for fishing. They had to move aside some of Lommy's explosive equipment in the process, but they still found what they were looking for in the end.

After Weasel's smaller group retrieved their supplies for fishing, the others gathered what they needed. Weasel, Elmar, and Edric went north to the close river, and Arya, Gendry, Hot Pie, Lommy, and Nymeria all went into the woods south of the beaten-up street.

* * *

"How much meat do we have?" Hot Pie asked. He was carrying a large bag, where everyone had been placing the game they hunted into.

"Not as much as I hoped," Arya said, eyeing the contents of the bag with everyone else sans Nymeria. Inside were eight rabbits, two squirrels, and three birds.

"Then what are we going to do?" Hot Pie asked, looking over at Gendry.

"We keep looking," Gendry said, turning to advance deeper into the woods. Arya and the others followed. All the while, Arya began to carefully look around for any other animals they could hunt for food. Nymeria was with them as well, and the dog walked over to the bag to sniff at it.

They kept going for about sixteen minutes, and they all simultaneously stopped as a large buck stepped out from behind a number of trees. The creature briefly paused to sniff the grass before it before it flipped its ears and kept moving, seemingly ignoring the others beside it. Arya, Gendry, Hot Pie, and Lommy were all silent before Lommy whispered to the others.

"_Should we go for it?_"

Before any human could answer, Nymeria did. She snarled, growled, then began barking at the buck. The buck looked over at the group and stood ramrod still as it now noticed the group of five. Nymeria barked a few more times, then charged at the buck. The buck immediately turned and ran, and Arya, Gendry, Hot Pie, and Lommy began hollering in unison as they chased after Nymeria, whom was in the process of chasing the buck.

They continued to run for a while. Arya could see Nymeria off in the distance, and she watched as the dog managed to catch up to the buck and successfully bring it down. Nymeria, growling, leapt from the ground and dug her claws and teeth into the back of the big buck. The buck fell, and the four humans who were in the process of chasing it finally managed to catch up.

Gendry and Arya carried the remains of the buck back to the RV. Hot Pie, Lommy, and Nymeria followed.

* * *

Night came. Arya found herself sitting around a fire made outside the RV with the others. She had been chewing the (now cooked) meat from the buck run down by Nymeria. It was rare for something as large as a buck to be spotted by anyone anymore. Arya couldn't remember the last time she saw one before the specimen from a few hours earlier. Weasel was on Arya's right, and Nymeria was to her left. Across from her, Gendry swallowed a piece of meat before he began to speak.

"We'll be heading into Fairmarket tomorrow morning," he announced. "We should discuss scavenging and how we'll go about looking for food and anything else we can use."

"Are we splitting up to look for stuff again?" Elmar asked after swallowing a bit of cooked buck meat.

Gendry shook his head. Arya raised an eyebrow as Gendry began to elaborate. "We'll be moving together as one big group. Better to stick together."

Arya was not sure if anyone else noticed this, but she got a look at Edric's face when Gendry explained his strategy for the following day of scavenging Fairmarket. Edric's face communicated to Arya that he thought Gendry's idea was completely stupid and that it was also incredibly dangerous.

_Gendry, are you being serious?_ Arya thought.

Arya liked Gendry and all, but this was one of many different times where she wondered if he actually knew what he was doing. She had been thinking about this for the many years they'd been on the road, and she was aware that Hot Pie felt the same way as her. She was now beginning to think that Edric felt similarly. Arya also felt as if eventually, something was going to give away. Gendry would make a mistake, or something else would happen that would shatter his hold over the group if not weaken it permanently.

Arya would hate to see this happen. If it _did_ happen, she expected that everyone (with the exception of perhaps a few) would leave. Hot Pie and Lommy might stick with Gendry if the group were to fracture, and Weasel and Nymeria would definitely stay with Arya, but the latter didn't know about anyone else.

However, Arya tried to reason with herself that the group wouldn't fracture. At the same time, Arya didn't want to fool herself into thinking that the group couldn't break apart.

After dinner, Arya escorted Weasel into the RV, and Nymeria eagerly followed after the both of them. Every night, Weasel slept on one of two beds in the RV, and this night was no exception. As Weasel crawled into bed, Arya watched.

"Have you taken care of everything?" Arya asked. "Like have you taken care of everything you need to do before bed?"

Weasel nodded before her head hit the pillow. "Yeah, yeah."

Arya gently patted Weasel on the head. "Alright, goodnight, Weasel–"

Arya was cut off when Weasel suddenly lunged forward and hugged Arya tightly. Arya, surprised but still appreciating the affectionate gesture, returned Weasel's hug. Normally, Arya did not like things such as this, but she was always willing to make an exception for little Weasel. The two of them had grown very close to one another over the years, and Arya knew that Weasel fully trusted and loved her.

Weasel was incredibly close to her, nearly family. It made Arya think about whether or not her blood family were still out there somewhere. Eddard, Catelyn, and Robb were all gone. However, there was a chance that everyone else was still out there somewhere. Arya had a faint hope she'd find them someday.

* * *

When the day came, Gendry led everyone into the ravaged town of Fairmarket. Everyone was armed, and Arya walked behind Gendry. Weasel was to her left, and Nymeria was to her right. As planned, all of them walked in a big cluster. Aside from the sounds of scuffling feet, Nymeria panting, and a cough every now and then, everyone was quiet. Lommy was the one to break the silence.

"We've got company."

Sure enough, before the group were two wights mindlessly shambling around the decimated streets of Fairmarket. One was next to a flipped, burned-out car, and the other was close behind. Arya could see that they were approaching an X-shaped intersection at the time. Arya and Gendry approached the wights, and with a swing of her machete, Arya put down one wight while Gendry used his sledgehammer to collapse the skull of the other.

With the threat taken care of, the group continued towards the intersection. Arya began feeling better; it seemed like they had everything covered and that no one would die. Upon reaching the center of the intersection, Arya noticed a tall, brick building nearby. She looked upward, and her eyes widened. Standing behind a dirty window watching them was, unmistakably, Jaqen.

"Arya?" Hot Pie said, taking her eyes away from the window to look at Hot Pie. The latter continued speaking. "You see something?"

"It's nothing, Hot Pie. Don't worry about it."

With that taken care of, Arya looked back up to the window as the group stopped when Gendry did. Jaqen was gone.

_Wait… what?_ Arya thought. _Where'd he go–_

"_WIGHTS!_"

Hot Pie's cry caught everyone's attention. Arya looked to where Hot Pie was pointing, and she saw a massive hoard of wights approaching them from the location of the RV. There must have been at least eighty-five of them, all growling and headed right for the lot of them.

"There are more– _WE'RE SURROUNDED!_" Elmar shouted.

Arya looked around. Coming from every street, there were more wights, effectively boxing them into the center of the intersection. The wights coming from the direction where the RV was were much more close, but the others were still a distance away.

"Gendry, what do we do?" Edric asked.

Gendry looked towards the direction of the RV. "We need to get back to the RV. Fight our way through."

Everyone, still clustered together, eyed the rotting wave of the dead approaching them all. Nymeria began growling. Arya felt a rush of intense willingness to live to see another day shoot through her. Finally, someone–Arya wasn't sure who–emitted a war cry, which prompted everyone else to scream at the wights (bark in Nymeria's case) and charge forward. Within seconds, the living clashed on the dead, and Arya rammed her machete through the empty eye socket of one wight in the front row as Nymeria took down the one next to it, crushing its exposed brain in her teeth. Nearby, Lommy rammed one end of his spear through the skull of a wight, then another, then another.

Nearby, Gendry swung his sledgehammer a few times, taking out three wights and crippling another. Hot Pie, who was near Arya, swung his metal pipe at a wight and knocked it over. He proceeded to beat its brains in with the pipe. However, two wights grabbed for him, and Arya noticed. She ran towards the wights about to bite a chunk out of Hot Pie and severed the rotted arm of one that was about to grab her fat friend before putting the same machete through its temple. The second wight Arya pushed back by running her machete into its gut and running it backwards, yanking it upward and back as she made it fall, sending a spray of blood flying at her as the creature's gray and black, rotted intestines spilled out onto the street. The smell nearly made her gag.

"_THEY'RE NOT FALLING BACK!_" Elmar screamed as he cracked the head of one with the metal bat in his possession.

"_NO DUH!_" Arya shouted back as she sliced into the neck of a wight, taking its head clean off. The head, still making biting motions, rolled over to Weasel, who stuck her dagger into the side of it, killing it. At this point, the group had cut through a number of the wights, but they were still vastly outnumbered.

Arya heard two loud pops as Edric pulled out a pistol and put down a few wights. Next to him, Gendry crippled a wight and then mashed its head into red, gray, and black pulp with his sledgehammer with several frantic, hard swings downward. By this point, Edric, Elmar, Gendry, and Lommy were to the far left while the others were to the far right. Weasel began to scream as a wight grabbed her hair, desperately swinging her dagger at it to get it to go away. Arya heard her cries, but was busy grappling with a wight of her own. Nymeria charged over to Weasel and tackled the wight from behind, biting into its head and savagely shaking it around in her mouth.

"_THAT'S IT, YOU GOTTA DO SOMETHING!_" Lommy shouted. At his waist, three bottles intended to be used as Molotov cocktails were tied there. Also present at his waist was a makeshift bomb he had constructed out of an empty milk jug and other materials, which he'd named "Auk". He grabbed one of the bottles, lit the cloth, then threw it ahead of them. There was a large burst of flame, and several of the wights in the center began to catch fire. Lommy began yelling again. "_GOTTA THIN THE HERD!_"

Though Arya was a distance away from the burning flesh of the rotting wights, she could still smell it. She coughed and threw up in her mouth a little due to the strong, horrid smell. At her left, Hot Pie hollered and whacked a wight across the face with his pipe, splintering a number of teeth and bursting its nose like old fruit thrown against a solid wall. As he ran forward to finish the job, Nymeria tore at the leg of a wight before Weasel leapt forward and drove her dagger into its brain through a gash present in the forehead.

By this point, Arya and Gendry's groups were separated, wights in between the both of them. At this point, Arya began to hack away at the undead more fiercely and quickly, hoping that none of them were going to get boxed in and surrounded. Arya heard more gunshots nearby, and she watched as Lommy threw a second Molotov cocktail into the swarm of wights. This time, three more wights caught on fire than before. Nobody had been bitten or killed yet, but they were seemingly losing.

After Gendry broke open the skull of a wight before him with his sledgehammer to expose its brain, Arya rammed her machete through the mouth of a wight in front of her and then yanked it out. Hot Pie hit another wight upside the head with his pipe, and it dislodged a rotted eye. Weasel ran her dagger through a wight's knee before stabbing it in the face. Nymeria savaged a wight's forearm, dragging it backwards. Elmar broke the jaw of a wight advancing towards him. Edric used his last bullet on a wight about to bite a chunk out of Gendry's arm. Lommy continually speared wights at random; some of these wights died while others were disemboweled and lost limbs or digits.

"_There are too many!_" Hot Pie cried. Arya felt like this was true; for every wight they killed, two more arrived. The original plan of sticking together had unfortunately started to fail. It made her wonder when the other wights from behind would start to gain on them if they weren't there already. One wight whose hands had decayed to the point where the tips of the fingers were exposed bone reached Arya next, taking a swipe at her face. Part of her face, her right cheek, was grazed by the claw-like bone, and she started to bleed. Nymeria, noticing this, rushed to her master's aid and tore into the wight's throat before taking on the skull. Nearby, Weasel repeatedly drove her dagger into the back of a wight's head.

"_I SEE AN OPENING!_" Gendry shouted. "_EDRIC, ELMAR, YOU TWO GO!_"

"_ARE YOU SURE?!_" Edric shouted back.

"_YES!_" Gendry shouted as he swung at a wight and collapsed its skull. "NOW _GO!_"

"GO!" Gendry shouted as Elmar and Edric began to run to the RV, which Arya could make out in the distance. "GO! GO! GO! GO! GO! GO! _GO! GO! GO! GO! GO!_"

Upon hearing Gendry's shouting, Elmar and Edric began to run through the wights to get to the RV. Arya lost track of the two of them as they disappeared into the sea of the dead. As Gendry and Lommy continued to fight their way back to the RV, Arya, Hot Pie, Weasel, and Nymeria were getting backed into an old, now abandoned department store.

At this point, the four of them were backed against the front doors of the store. As the wights began to pile in towards them, Arya was almost certain they would die that day. However, they didn't. Behind them, the doors opened, and Arya and the others turned to see Jaqen–albeit smeared in gore–standing there.

"A man suggests a girl and her friends come inside if they wish to live."

They went inside. Jaqen shut the door and pushed a shelf over, barricading it successfully.

* * *

Jaqen led them into a back room of the department store. Arya and Hot Pie recognized Jaqen, but Arya had to explain to Weasel who he was. Weasel, always distrustful of strangers, at least managed to warm up to Jaqen after seeing that Arya and Hot Pie trusted him.

"Where are we going?" Hot Pie asked as the group of five continued to move through the store.

"A man noticed your plight, and he has a solution."

Arya couldn't believe Jaqen was still alive. She was certain that the wight swarm back in Winterfell had caused him, Rorge, and Biter to all die. It also opened up many questions. How did Jaqen show up in this department store without being seen? How did he get out of Winterfell? Did Rorge and Biter escape as well? Were they here with him? Curious, she decided to ask.

"Jaqen, how did you make it out of Winterfell when the wight horde was coming in?"

Jaqen was quiet for a moment, but he answered as he opened the door to a back room. "A man is full of surprises."

Jaqen held the door open for Arya and her companions, and they stepped into the room. A small lamp was atop a desk, and it was lit, revealing the other contents of the room. A bloodied ax was resting in the corner, its rusted handle leaning against the wall. Nearby was a stack of five dead wights. All of them had large wounds in their heads where Jaqen had obviously driven the ax into their skulls. Hot Pie stopped and noticed them.

"What are those for?"

Jaqen walked over to the ax and picked it up as he began to explain. Arya heard a loud explosion come from the outside street. She immediately knew that it was Auk going off. "A man will demonstrate." He looked over at Hot Pie. "A fat boy will come forward."

Jaqen pulled the top corpse off of the pile and began to swing into it with his ax. Everyone watched as he drove his weapon into it several more times. When he was finished, Jaqen leaned the ax against the adjacent desk and began to dig into the corpse with his hands, pulling out bits of intestine and liver and probably stomach. He held them out for Hot Pie to take.

"What… do you want me to do with…"

"A fat boy must cover himself," Jaqen explained. "A man has learned that one may mask their own smell by covering themselves in their insides. One may avoid detection in this manner."

The group proceeded to take turns covering themselves in wight guts and blood. They went in the order of Hot Pie, Arya, Weasel, and then Nymeria. Weasel needed some assistance in covering herself, and Nymeria needed to be covered by her three companions because she couldn't do it herself. In total, they had to cut open three of the wights on the pile. The smell was unbelievable, but Arya managed.

When they were done, they stepped out of the back room and into the main part of the store. Arya got a look out of one of the dirty front windows and saw that the street was swarming with wights. She did not see Gendry or Lommy out there. Jaqen followed close behind, and Arya and her companions turned to look at him when he addressed them.

"A girl and her friends can walk through, though a man must advise you to move slowly to avoid detection."

Arya nodded once. "Thank you, Jaqen."

As they turned to exit through the door they came through, Arya and Hot Pie proceeded to move the barricade away. It took some effort, but they managed to complete their task. As Arya reached for the door handle, she tightly gripped her machete in the other. She hoped Jaqen's idea would work. She also hoped that none of them would get bitten, hoped that Nymeria wouldn't growl or bark and thus attract unwanted attention from the wights, and hoped that none of the wights would catch on.

When applying the gore to her face, Jaqen warned her to avoid smearing any of the blood onto her open wounds on her cheek. Arya knew that wights were attracted to fresh blood among other things, so she figured that out of everyone in the group, she was the biggest liability aside from probably Nymeria. Her wound had crusted over by then, but she figured that it would open up again if she rubbed it even a little.

Before they stepped outside, Arya took one last look back at everyone. They were eagerly watching her. Jaqen was gone. Arya opened the door, and they went out. Arya, tightly gripping her machete in one hand, held Weasel's hand with the other. Hot Pie and Nymeria made up the rear, and they noticed that while some of the wights turned their heads to look and see what caused the noise of the door creaking open, but they ignored Arya's group altogether.

"_It works!_" Hot Pie whispered.

Slowly, they moved through the swarm towards the RV. While the wights went one way, the four trying to move through them went the other. All the while, Weasel did not loosen her grip on Arya's hand, and Arya herself felt a hint of nervousness every time a wight looked her way. Much to her surprise, Nymeria did not bark or growl.

Moving through the swarm, Arya saw the remains of Lommy's bomb, Auk. Ash and burned asphalt were present among the remains of the explosion, and the corpses of seven wights surrounded it. Nearby, there were more burned corpses of wights, evidently the result of Lommy using his final Molotov cocktail. At this point, Arya could see movement around the RV. _It's them!_

When they were getting close, they made a break for it and began screaming for someone to notice them, not caring if the wights detected them. Gendry and Lommy staggered out of the RV, and they ran over to greet their friends. Edric and Elmar appeared as well, and they approached.

* * *

Arya was the first to see Elmar staggering towards the front of the RV a short while later. He moved like he was sick. Curious, Arya approached him to see what he was doing. Getting close, Arya watched as Elmar began gagging as he placed his left hand to the front of the RV to support himself. From behind him, Arya could see that Elmar was coughing up blood and bile.

"Elmar?" Arya said, feeling as if she knew what was going on. She did not notice it when she and the others escaped the herd of wights, but now she saw a bloody red spot on his upper right arm. Elmar stuck his head up and, shaking, turned to face Arya.

Arya's eyes widened when she saw that Elmar's skin was turning gray, and his eyes were in the process of changing to the pale blue possessed by the wights. Realizing what was happening, Arya screamed for help.

"_GENDRY! LOMMY!_"

Gendry and Lommy burst from the door of the RV, and they immediately noticed what was going on when they got a look at Elmar. Lommy was armed, Gendry and Arya weren't.

"_What… Gendry…_" Elmar mumbled.

"_Lommy, put him down!_" Gendry ordered.

Elmar took a step towards Gendry and mumbled something Arya couldn't understand.

"_What?!_" Lommy said, looking appalled. "That's a _person!_ He's not a wight yet!"

"BUT HE _WILL_ BE!" Gendry shouted. "You remember Yoren? How _FAST_ he turned?!"

The commotion drew Hot Pie, Weasel, and Edric from where they were inside the RV. Arya was too distracted by Gendry and Lommy to notice Elmar charge at her when the latter turned. She only noticed when Elmar tackled her to the ground, snarling and snapping at her face with his teeth. Arya screamed and tried to push him off of herself, but to no avail.

Immediately, Gendry ran over, hoisted Elmar off of Arya, and choke slammed him to the asphalt. The undead Elmar did not hesitate in clawing at Gendry's arm. Lommy then ran over. Everyone was shouting. Lommy rammed one end of his spear into Elmar's head, and he went limp.

Everyone was silent for a moment. Finally, Edric was the one to break the silence.

"_HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?!_"

"Let's look," Gendry said, proceeding to drag Elmar's body over to the RV. He leaned him up against it and began to inspect the body for bites. Arya walked over and watched as everyone else crowded around Gendry and Elmar and did the same thing.

After a brief while, Gendry rolled up Elmar's shirt sleeve and noticed a deep bite on his right arm, the same place where Arya had seen the red mark. Gendry then backed up a bit and took a deep breath.

"Alright," Gendry said, "alright, let's bury him."

* * *

It took a number of hours, but Gendry, Arya, and Lommy dug a hole in the nearby woods to bury Elmar. They brought his body over there and lowered him in. Gendry, Arya, and Lommy took turns shoveling dirt over Elmar's remains as Weasel, Hot Pie, Edric, and Nymeria all watched the event in silence.

As the dirt covered half of Elmar's body, Edric began to deeply inhale in and out. Arya watched him, and she saw in his eyes that he looked hurt and angry. When they finished shoveling, Edric's breathing was now very loud. Gendry was the first to address it.

"Are you okay?"

Edric hatefully stared at Gendry, then charged at him, shouting. Edric swung at Gendry, who quickly moved out of the way.

"What are you doing–" Gendry said, but was cut off when Edric swung again, connecting as he successfully whacked Gendry in the face.

Gendry, now looking very enraged himself, grabbed Edric's wrist as he tried to punch him again, then swung himself, hitting Edric in the gut hard enough to make him vomit all over Elmar's grave. When the vomit was gone, Gendry approached and whacked him in the right cheek. Realizing what was going on, Arya and Lommy got in between Gendry and Edric and began shouting them down from killing each other.

"_WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?!_" Gendry shouted.

"_YOU'RE THE REASON HE'S DEAD!_" Edric screamed back.

A screaming match between the two followed, and it ended with Edric walking backwards while shouting at Gendry, though the volume of his voice had lowered quite a bit since he began yelling.

"You told us to run because _you don't have a plan!_ You just drag us along to every town so we can find next to nothing and just _scrape to get by!_ Maybe you should step down and let _Arya_ take over. She'd be _MUCH_ better than _YOU_ ANY DAY!"

He turned to walk back to the RV.

* * *

Sitting in the front seat next to Gendry, Arya flipped through the road atlas to see if she could find an alternate route out of Fairmarket rather than going straight through like what Gendry had originally planned. Gendry had decided that due to the mass of wights in there, they needed to find another way out. After some time, Arya found an alternate road to take to go southeast, though they needed to go through two streets in Fairmarket to get there.

Puling into the town, Gendry slowly drove through the street where the group had fought for their lives during the previous day. Arya was pleased to see that there were barely any wights around. Gendry turned right to head down a different street when he reached the intersection, and he began to leave Fairmarket. A few wights shambled around, but they did not advance towards the RV.

Edric was sitting in the far back of the RV, not talking to anyone. Hot Pie, a half-eaten bag of chips in his hand, watched as Lommy constructed a new Molotov cocktail at a table. On the floor, Weasel played with Nymeria. Up front, Gendry drove as Arya sat in silence and observed the streets of Fairmarket.

As Gendry drove, Arya wondered if there was anyone living in Fairmarket. She supposed that Jaqen may very well have been the ravaged town's sole occupant now, but part of her also thought that he was only passing through for the time being.

Arya began to wonder if there was once a sizable community at Fairmarket, but she did not see any sign of life anywhere. Almost all of the towns they'd been to had been raided or overrun, and Fairmarket was no exception.

And then she saw it. Written on a brick wall in black spray paint was a message that made Arya feel unsettled. It made her realize that Fairmarket likely had actually been raided in the past.

**BEWARE THE BRAVE COMPANIONS**


	7. Follow The River (2015)

**Chapter Seven:**

**Follow The River (2015)**

* * *

By the time Weasel found what she was looking for in the road atlas, the rain outside of the RV was starting to slacken.

"Have you seen it yet?" Arya asked, not taking her eyes off the road. She kept both hands on the wheel like what Gendry had taught her months earlier. She didn't think she was at good at driving as Gendry, but she at least thought she was doing an alright job. Gendry himself was sitting in the back with the others. Nymeria was sitting between where Arya and Weasel were seated themselves, panting.

"I think so…" Weasel said. "You were looking for where Crossroads is, right?"

Arya nodded. "Yes."

Arya heard a shuffling sound that indicated Weasel was shifting through the pages of the road atlas. After a few moments of said noises–accompanied by a few confused mumbles–Weasel finally said something. "Okay, I think we're getting close."

"Is it big enough to have a supermarket or pharmacy?" Arya asked. She and Gendry had been discussing scavenging the next town they came across. According to the road atlas, said town would be Crossroads. Weasel had become the group's navigator after Elmar's death, and she had quickly gotten used to reading the road atlas. She was still somewhat bad at it, but she was making progress nonetheless.

Weasel shook her head. "No, it's just a dot."

_Great,_ Arya thought. _Just great. We're running low on food, and this type of thing happens–_

"Arya, isn't that called a pork?" Weasel asked. "When a town is really small?"

"That's called a _hamlet_." Arya turned her head to face Weasel. "_Ham_, not pork, Weas–"

A loud crunching and thump grabbed Arya's attention. She looked to the front just in time to see something disappear beneath the front of the RV. The RV began to slow down, indicating that whatever Arya hit was stuck and now being dragged.

"_Oh, for crying out loud!_" Arya hissed, gently putting her foot on the brake and pulling over to the side. Gendry noticed and walked to the front of the RV.

"What happened?"

"I hit something. We need to pull over and take care of it."

Arya put the car in park and killed the engine after pulling over to the side of the road. Everyone began to pile out. Gendry and Weasel left first, followed by Hot Pie, Lommy, Arya herself, and then Edric and Nymeria. When everyone walked out, Arya got a good look at everyone, and she became aware of how tall everyone now was. Tallest to shortest among the non-animals, everyone went in the order of Gendry, Lommy, Edric, Hot Pie, Arya herself, and then Weasel. Arya had already been observing Weasel's growth over the years, and it shocked her how fast she was growing. She wouldn't be surprised if Weasel would be taller than her someday.

Everyone gathered around the front of the RV, and they saw a wight stuck there. The lower half of it was stuck beneath the front, but its arms and head were still visible, the thing biting and grasping at nothing. Arya was relieved they didn't hit a living person, and it made her realize the group hadn't seen any sign of human life ever since they ran into Jaqen. It begged the question: were there any humans left aside from themselves and maybe some others?

"Alright," Gendry said. "Who's doing it?"

Edric immediately walked back into the RV, looking angry. Lommy stepped forward with his spear and drove one end into the wight's left eye. It went limp. Without hesitation, Lommy put his spear down, and he and Arya each grabbed an arm of the wight and pulled. It took a few hard jerks, but the wight's remains soon dislodged, and they dragged it over to the side of the road to both get it out of their way and so it could rot in the grass. Before getting back into the RV, Arya got a look at the front. There was blood there and some light surface damage, but Arya was convinced that the rain, though it was starting to stop, would wash at least some of it off.

After everyone was back inside, Arya began to drive towards Crossroads again. Some time passed, and the rain stopped. It was then that Arya noticed the river to her left as she drove over a wooden bridge. For the past year, they had been traveling southeast, always following the south bank of the river. They'd all been out in the woods most of the time without any progress being made on the road. Often times, the group all stayed in one place until food supply in the form of hunting game ran dry.

After a brief while, Arya finally came across a rusted, chipped green sign notifying that the group was entering Crossroads. Arya got a good look around and saw some houses smattered here and there, most hidden behind pine and spruce trees. Arya did not know a thing about the layout of hamlets, but she guessed she was on a main road. This was because of both the width of the road and the fact that abandoned, rusted cars were scattered everywhere.

Arya's eyes flickered beyond the steering wheel, and she saw they were running low on gas. This coupled by the cars everywhere convinced Arya to pull over and refill while also siphoning gas out of the abandoned cars. This long into the apocalypse, it was likely that the abandoned cars had little to no gas left, but she figured it didn't hurt to try.

* * *

After pulling over, Arya explained to the others what was happening. Willing to siphon gas out of a car, Lommy and Weasel followed Arya out of the RV. While the three of them approached the RV, Hot Pie followed them outside after being instructed to refill the gas tank with whatever they had saved in the RV's storage compartment. As Arya, Lommy, and Weasel approached the first car they saw, Arya looked over her shoulder and saw Hot Pie beginning to take a red gas can out. Everyone outside of the RV was armed.

"Do you remember how to do this?" Arya asked Weasel, who was going to be the one getting gas.

Weasel nodded. They reached the first car. "Yes, I do."

As Weasel got to work, Arya and Lommy both watched the surrounding area to make sure there were no wights around that could get the drop on them. Weasel had a confused look on her face, which twisted into a sad look after a brief while. Right before Weasel spoke again, Arya noticed some movement in the woods across from the three of them.

"I don't think there's any gas in here."

Weasel was about to move to the next car, but Arya reached her arm out and put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. Arya was still keeping her eyes on the woods, which Lommy and Weasel then noticed, and they followed suit by looking towards the woods.

Arya stepped forward, taking her hand off of Weasel. "_Who's there?!_"

Two girls stepped out from behind the trees. One of them, who was taller, had a crossbow. The shorter had a shotgun. The two groups stared at each other for a moment before anyone spoke, and it was the shorter of the two girls.

"_We're_ here. Mind if you tell us who _you_ are?"

Arya replied. "You tell us about yourselves, first."

The shorter girl raised her shotgun, likely trying to aim at Arya's head. "_You're not in a position to tell us what to do._" The other girl, likely a family member due to their close physical resemblance, did the same with her crossbow.

Weasel tightly gripped Arya's hand as the latter replied. Arya, figuring that they'd get nowhere unless someone said someone's name, decided to relent. "My name is Arya Stark." She gestured at Lommy and Weasel. "These here are Lommy and Weasel."

"Alright, _Arya,_" the shorter girl said. "You and your crew run with the Brave Companions? Harrenhal?"

Arya recognized the name "Brave Companions" from when she saw the graffiti warning about them back in Fairmarket, and she did not know what "Harrenhal" was. Because of this, she told the truth. "No, we aren't part of any of those groups. We don't know any of those people."

The shorter girl lightly lowered her gun, then spoke again. "How many are with you?"

"Including us three, six. Plus one dog."

"Alright…" the short girl said, lightly nodding as she lowered her gun. "Alright… you're not one of them. I'm Willow Heddle, and this is my older sister, Jeyne."

Jeyne looked annoyed as she lowered her crossbow. "Willow, _I can introduce myself._"

Lommy snickered. Arya hoped neither of the Heddle sisters heard it. A moment ago, Willow was clearly very willing to blow Arya's brains out. Therefore, Arya didn't want Willow to be pushed into killing anyone that day. Eyeing Willow and Jeyne, Arya noticed that they were less covered in dirt than her whole group.

Jeyne must have noticed. "What's wrong, Arya?"

"You're not covered in dirt like us," Arya explained. "Do you have running water somewhere?"

Willow nodded. "Oh, yeah! We've got a house we've been staying in since all this started. We have access to a generator, and we've been pouring gas into it for power, but we try to conserve as best as we can. Do you and yours want to see it?"

Arya thought for a moment. Working electricity? _This far into the apocalypse?_ Plus, she and the others didn't know these people well. However, she trusted them, seeing as how their (somewhat) clean yet wary state indicated they had something valuable that they wanted to protect. Arya, still wanting something out of this, spoke.

"Do you have gas you can lend us?"

Willow nodded. "Yeah."

In Arya's mind the matter was now settled. "Okay, then. We'll lead you to the RV so you can guide us there. We'll introduce you to everyone inside."

* * *

Willow's nose and face scrunched up when she entered the RV. Jeyne gagged and had to step outside to get some fresh air. Apparently, the Heddle sisters had been hit with an invisible wall of filth when the two of them entered the RV. The way Arya understood it, her own group had been living in filth for so long, they didn't notice the atrocious smell filling the RV and had adapted to its presence.

"Are you okay?" Hot Pie asked, looking at Willow.

"I'm fine," Willow hissed. "Just need some time getting used to this… _smell._"

Outside, Jeyne took a few deep breaths before walking back into the RV. Arya watched her, hoping that she didn't vomit all over the floor and on Nymeria or Weasel. Much to Arya's pleasant surprise, Jeyne didn't puke on anything. After the introductions with the Heddles and the rest of the group were out of the way, Arya waited for Jeyne and Willow to approach the front and instruct her on where to go.

Arya drove for a bit, and Willow directed Arya to a street which took her to a long, winding dirt path through the woods. They wound up in a small clearing with a large, dirty, two story house in the middle. Parts of it were burned, and there was a shed and a wooden picnic table out front accompanied by a chain-link fence around the property. There was an opening wide enough for the RV to enter. Taking in the whole sight of the property, Arya couldn't help but be impressed. There was some damage here and there, but the whole thing looked untouched by the apocalypse going on around it, like the home of the Heddle sisters existed in its own serene bubble. Arya shut the RV off when Willow instructed.

Everyone got out. Weasel, curious, went right for the front door of the house, but Willow reached out with fast reflexes and grabbed her arm to stop her. "_No,_" she said sternly. "We talk first."

The group sat down at the picnic table. Arya noticed that Edric and Gendry stayed as far apart as possible. Arya, curious about what Willow meant by "talk" listened as she began to explain.

"Jeyne and I just met you all," Willow explained. She crossed her arms. "Now tell us everything. From start to finish."

For the next four hours, Arya, Gendry, Hot Pie, and Lommy brought Jeyne and Willow up to speed. Weasel and Edric added in their own comments every now and then, but for the most part, they were quiet. Willow and Jeyne sometimes interrupted to ask questions, and everything was answered to the best of Arya's ability. Upon hearing about their escape from Fairmarket, Willow had an impressed look on her face. When they got to the part where Elmar died, Edric got up and walked away, sitting up against the front of the house.

After a while, everything was done, and Willow and Jeyne let Arya's group into the house to take turns showering and eating the small amount of food the sisters were willing to share. Later on, as the day dragged into the afternoon, Arya sat with Jeyne as Willow and Hot Pie worked in the nearby kitchen, cooking a meal together for the group. They had gotten to talking, and they each discovered that they had a mutual appreciation for food.

"So about that Edric character," Jeyne said. "I'm guessing he and Gendry are still angry at each other over that business with your late friend being bitten."

Arya nodded. "Yes, they can hardly talk to each other. It gets annoying, especially when they need to hunt together." After speaking, Arya thought about Gendry and Edric's worsening relationship. It was highly volatile, and she was surprised that neither of them had tried to kill each other yet. They could hardly go two weeks without fighting at least once, and it made Arya think about who would possibly be the one to draw first blood. She didn't want it to happen. She didn't want Gendry to cave in Edric's skull with his sledgehammer or Edric to shoot Gendry dead. However, with the way things were going, it was a definite possibility down the road.

"Huh, that's terrible," Jeyne commented. "My sister and I have always worked together. Yes, there are times when we disagree, but we always reconcile. In this world today, there is no room for any margin of error. It could be fatal. Not to be mean, but I'm honestly surprised that your group has had only one casualty. You must make a fine leader if–"

Arya raised an eyebrow. "What? No, Gendry's in charge."

Jeyne exhaled sharply to show amusement. "I never would have guessed."

Arya ignored the comment and decided to speak about something else. "Has it always just been you two out here?"

Jeyne shook her head. "No, we had our great aunt with us in the beginning, and my dad, too. They're both gone. One was a wight, and the other was when some men from the Brave Companions came by demanding food and supplies. We stood our ground, and three of them died, and we lost my dad in the process, too. I already told you Willow is the cook. I'm a healer. I tried to bandage his wounds as best I could, but it was no use."

Arya nodded, feeling sorry for her. "How many people come through here?"

"Not many. You're the first people we've seen in a long time." Jeyne leaned back a bit. "Honestly, we used to take in guests all the time. They'd give us supplies in exchange for temporary shelter. I do apologize on behalf of my sister. I suppose I should explain her behavior from earlier. After that business with the Brave Companions, we have been increasingly wary of strangers."

"Who are these 'Brave Companions'?" Arya asked, resting her crossed arms on the table. "I've heard about them, but I'd like to hear it from you."

Jeyne took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. "They are horrible. They are a group of men who travel around this part of the countryside raiding every community they find and killing everyone they come across. They are a group of barbarians left over from a primal age, and they are led by a horrible man with a lisp. I am thankful mine and Willow's home is secluded, or else it would be a prime target for them. From what I hear, their home base is in Saltpans, which is very close to here. Buildings with electricity and a supply of food, shaky or not, is a gold mine to anyone nowadays."

"What about wights?"

"Not many of those around here. We've had to worry more about the living than the dead."

"So after the meal, we get our gas and food, and then we go?" Arya asked.

Jeyne nodded. "Yes. We cannot go with you."

Weasel's sudden appearance made Arya and Jeyne jump. "Why not?"

"Because this is our home, Weasel," Jeyne explained. "It's a good home. Plus, we're protected anyway."

This information caught Arya's attention. The surrounding area being "protected" seemed to explain the serene nature of Jeyne and Willow's home. She turned her head back to Jeyne. "Protected? Care to explain?"

"We've got trade going on with this biker group that operates in the area," she explained. "We give them food and other supplies in exchange for protection. They hate the Brave Companions, so they're alright by me and Willow."

A voice came from inside the kitchen, Willow. "_Dinner's ready!_"

They ate outside at the picnic table. Willow and Hot Pie had cooked rabbit and fish for everyone, and they ate together. Also present were carrots taken from a small farm the Heddles kept in the backyard. The meal was mostly silent save for the occasional cough or joke and subsequent laugh. Finally, when the meal was over, Arya thanked Jeyne and Willow for their hospitality.

"Arya, I have something for you," Jeyne said afterward. She disappeared into the house and returned with a small circular tool. She held it out for her. "Here."

Arya took it in both hands and observed it closely. "What is it?"

"It's a tourniquet," Jeyne answered. "It stops blood flow if someone gets badly hurt. We have way too many of these things laying around, so I figured you could use one of our excess tourniquets someday. Like if someone were to lose something."

"Thanks, Jeyne."

Jeyne nodded once. "You're welcome."

With that, Arya and the others boarded the RV. Hot Pie was evidently sad to leave Willow, but he seemed to accept that it was a reality he needed to face eventually. With everyone on board, she put the car in reverse and pulled out of the Heddle property, making her way back down the winding drive through the woods.

* * *

Driving southeast, Arya held on the wheel as she spoke to Gendry. They had been at the Heddle house for a while, and dusk was beginning to set in.

"Hot Pie seemed to like Willow," Arya commented.

Gendry nodded. "Birds of a feather flock together."

Arya thought back to how Willow was harsh on practically everyone among her and Jeyne's guests except for Hot Pie. Willow had overheard Hot Pie talk about food, and they got to talking about recipes and cooking, and they became fast friends. She also thought back to the two of them making the food for everyone, and they worked together very well. It seemed practically natural.

Arya and everyone else had liked the Heddles very much, and Arya was disappointed that she and the others all had to leave. For a brief moment, a fantasy of the group living with the Heddles flickered through her mind. Willow and Hot Pie could cook together, Weasel could see what it was like to grow up in a safe home, and everyone would pull their weight to help keep everything running. Sure, a wight or hostile person might show up every now and then, but it would still be–

"_They're surrounding us!_"

Arya became concerned immediately when Weasel started shouting. She put her foot on the brake and slowly stopped the car as she turned around to look back. Weasel, Hot Pie, Lommy, and Edric were crowding around various windows in the RV.

"_What's going on?!_" Gendry demanded, reaching for his sledgehammer.

"Guys on motorcycles!" Lommy shouted back. "The RV's surrounded!"

Arya finally looked forward, and she saw some of the guys Lommy was talking about starting to reach the front of the RV. Deciding to face the issue head on, Arya stopped the RV and killed the engine. Everyone gathered around Arya.

"What do we do?" Edric asked.

Gendry answered. "Don't do anything stupid–"

"_I wasn't asking you!_" Edric shot back.

"_Everyone shut up!_" Arya snapped. She let her statement hang in the air for a moment before she continued speaking. "We don't know who these people are! For all we know, they might want to trade with us or something! We're going out there."

"But Arya–"

Arya didn't give Hot Pie time to protest. "We're going out there! Weasel, you stay inside."

Arya did not forget to grab her machete before exiting the RV with Gendry, Hot Pie, Lommy, and Edric. All of them were armed. By then, several members of the biker group had dismounted their motorcycles and were watching their every move. Arya, tightly gripping the handle of her machete, didn't want any violence to break out. However, she would defend her group if she needed to. She heard several of the men make comments about her group, and she decided to address them herself.

"Who are you people?"

"Then tell us who you are," said a gruff, raspy voice. Its owner sounded like he was almost dead, and said owner came into view when he walked out of a group of bikers. Because of how they parted for him, Arya figured he was their leader. The first things Arya noticed about him were the eyepatch covering his right eye and wooden right leg. He had a large rifle strapped to his back.

"My name is Arya," Arya said. "These are Gendry, Hot Pie, Lommy, and Edric. Now what about you?"

He didn't answer her. Instead, he kept asking questions. "You come through here often?"

"No, we just came from Crossroads," Arya said. "We're headed southeast."

"To Saltpans or Harroway?"

"We don't know yet. Probably Harroway. We've heard some things about Saltpans."

"Brave Companions are holed up in there," the eyeless biker explained. "It's a death wish going into Saltpans right now. Did you say Crossroads?"

Hot Pie spoke instead of Arya. "We just met two people in a big house–"

"Shut up!" Arya demanded.

"_WAIT!_" the head biker held his hand out to indicate then needing to be silent. "What two people? Were they sisters?"

Hot Pie nodded wildly. "Yeah, Jeyne and Willow."

The man's eye seemed to light up. "_Huh!_ Why didn't you just say so? We do trade with them quite a bit!"

Arya calmed down. It was then she realized that these men were the "biker group" Jeyne had described to her a day ago. In the heat of the moment, she'd forgotten about this specific information.

* * *

By the time night came, Arya and the others had (to some extent) gotten to know everyone in what their eyeless leader, Beric Dondarrion, referred to as the "Brotherhood Without Banners". Among Beric, their members consisted of Lem, Thoros, Harwin, Jack, Tom, Notch, Luke, Anguy, Mudge, Dennett, Watty, and Alyn. Currently, Arya was sitting on a fallen log to the right of Beric, and everyone else was gathered around a bonfire, sharing food and talking (except Weasel, who did not speak unless spoken to and Nymeria, who was asleep in the RV). Edric very much seemed to like these men, and Gendry did, too. At this point in her discussion with Beric, they had gotten to the topic of his wooden leg.

"I got this seven months ago," he explained. "We were in a bind down in High Heart. I fell and got bit in the ankle by a wight. If it weren't for Thoros's quick thinking with that chainsaw of his, I'd be a dead man."

"Wait, the infection can be stopped if you cut off an infected limb?"

"Yes," Beric said, nodding. "If you act fast enough."

It was then that Arya and Beric's attention was caught by Thoros approaching them. Arya liked Thoros from the start; he was a genial man who was willing to talk and share food. Thoros, noticing Arya, cleared his throat before speaking.

"Arya, right?"

Arya nodded. "Yes."

"Mind if I sit?"

"No, I don't care."

Thoros sat down on a tire nearby. He crossed his arms and faced Arya. "So tell me: where are your families? I already guessed that the little girl is your child, but–"

Alarmed, Arya spoke up. "_No, Weasel isn't my–_"

"My apologies." Thoros put a hand up. "I just guessed she was yours."

Though the misunderstanding had been cleared up, it made Arya think. Out of everyone in the group, Weasel had been mostly attached to her. Whether she realized it or not before, Arya now came to understand that Weasel likely viewed her as a maternal figure. It made sense to her. After all, in the beginning, Arya had been the one to take care of Weasel the most, and Weasel only really spoke to Arya out of everyone else.

"So what about your families?" Thoros asked. "I'm very curious, and I couldn't get any information out of any of your friends over there."

"All of our families are long gone," Arya answered. "But… honestly? I still have hope some family of mine is out there somewhere. Have… have any of you come across some people with auburn hair? One of them's a tall girl, one of them is in a wheelchair, and one's a little boy. There's another with dark hair and gray eyes. They might have been around White Harbor up north."

Beric and Thoros shared a glance. Beric spoke first. "You remember anyone like that, Thoros? Sorry, after I took that fall back in Stone Mill, my memory hasn't been as good. I know you never forget a face."

Thoros sat and pondered for a moment. He took a deep breath and then answered. "No, we haven't encountered anyone who meets that description. Sorry, Arya."

Arya hated to hear that. She was hopeful that the Brotherhood Without Banners would provide some information regarding the whereabouts of Sansa, Bran, Rickon, and Jon, but they couldn't. Though she didn't show it on her face, it inwardly killed her a little more.

* * *

The next morning, each group began to prepare to leave. As Arya helped Hot Pie carry the supplies the Brotherhood gave them into the RV, she noticed that Gendry and Edric, for once, were not arguing or making very aggressive gestures at each other. After she put the supplies away, she decided to go to them.

"What's this all about?" Arya asked.

"I'm leaving with the Brotherhood," Edric asked. "I was going to tell you in a little while, but I talked it over with Beric, and he's fine with another helping hand."

It was then that Hot Pie, who was nearby and noticed, nudged Lommy to get his attention. He pointed to Arya, Gendry, and Edric, and they approached. Even Weasel poked her head out of the RV and followed them over.

"What's going on?" Hot Pie asked when he got over there.

"Edric's leaving to join Beric," Arya answered.

Hot Pie and Lommy's eyes widened. A chorus of "What?" came from them, and they looked at Edric, obviously desiring an explanation.

"It needed to be done," Edric said. "I can't be in this group anymore."

A short while later, all were quiet as Beric addressed Edric. Beric brought everyone up to speed as he explained that Edric would be joining the Brotherhood Without Banners. When he was finished, he faced the remaining people in Arya's group. "Would anyone else like to join us?"

Much to Arya's great surprise and disappointment, Gendry stepped forward. "I will."

Arya couldn't help but comment. "What?"

"I have to, Arya. Edric and I talked it over, and we figured we need to put this Elmar thing to rest. We figured we need to work together. And, admittedly, you've done a better job of leading this group than I ever could. You're in charge now, Arya. I'm gone."

Arya didn't like this at all. Gendry had been with her since day one, and while she did indeed do well leading a group, it would not be the same without him being there. Now that she had been promoted to the position of leader, she was in shock.

_He's leaving m–US._

Arya took a deep breath and sighed it back out. "Okay… fine. I'm… I'm the leader now. Goodbye, you guys…"

They left afterward, Gendry and Edric going one way with the Brotherhood Without Banners while Arya and the others went the other in the RV.

* * *

"Where to, boss?"

Lommy asked Arya that question a day later. While continuing southeast, they had stopped for the rest of the day to hunt, and Lommy had been referring to Arya as "boss" ever since Gendry left and put her in charge. It didn't bother her, but it weirded her out; Gendry had never been referred to as "boss" by anyone before.

"I don't know yet, Lommy," Arya answered, still feeling hurt that Gendry had left them. "We're just going to keep going."

Weasel, sitting next to Arya, flipped through the pages of the road atlas. She was getting better at reading it, and it took her a less amount of time to find out where they were heading towards next.

"Okay," she said, "we're approaching a split in the road. If we go north, we'll be in Saltpans. If we go south, we'll be in Harroway."

"Harroway it is, then," Arya said, mentally reminding herself to take the turn to head to Harroway.

Arya remembered Beric and Jeyne's statements about Saltpans being compromised by the Brave Companions. If they were anything like what they had described–or even worse–Arya wanted none of what they handed out and or took part in. It also made her think: would Harroway be less safe? Was there a community around there? Was it wight infested like Fairmarket? Did the Brave Companions go through there?

_Well,_ she thought, _only one way to find out._

After about ten minutes, they reached the crossroads. Two green signs were before the RV. To the left, there was one reading "Saltpans". To the right, there was one reading "Harroway". Arya turned right and began to venture south.


	8. Life or Limb (2015)

**Note:** After this, every chapter will be much more long than the ones that came before.

* * *

**Chapter Eight:**

**Life or Limb (2015)**

* * *

It was the middle of the day when the RV entered Harroway. Arya could already tell that said town would most likely be ripped to shreds, evident by a road sign in town being chipped and rusted. She also noticed bullet holes in it, too. Despite this sign that they would likely find next to nothing in this town, Arya drove into it anyway. Weasel was sitting up front, and Lommy was behind Arya, looking over her seat at the road.

"We're there, boss?" he asked.

"Yes," Weasel answered instead of Arya, her eyes scanning the road atlas in her hands. "We just entered."

Arya pulled to the left end of the road as soon as she saw some houses and shut the RV off. Noticing this, everyone–Nymeria included–piled out to the street. Harroway was more hilly than other areas the group had been through, but nobody seemed to mind. The RV was parked atop a hill that, beyond the guard rail, made a drop of about twenty feet down into a house's backyard. Large rocks jutted out from beneath the road there, looking almost like a natural staircase. Arya suspected that other areas in town would look like this as well.

Without hesitation, the group began to walk down the road. Arya soon pointed out a small house, the first one they found, and they approached the front door. Lommy reached out and tried the handle. Finding that it was locked, he backed up so Hot Pie could slam his weight against the door to force it open. It eventually fell down after he backed up and then charged five times. They went inside.

Much to Arya's surprise, the interior of the house was almost pristine. Of course, there were signs that whoever had lived there last had left in a hurry (such as empty cabinet drawers and a lack of other personal belongings in the house), but otherwise, the house was untouched. The group was fortunate; whoever lived in the house had left behind some canned food items. Pleased, the group gathered them in a pillow case they had been using to carry food they found and continued to look through the remainder of the house. They found nothing else that could have been of use to them and left after a while of thorough searching.

The group went from house to house, and they kept finding more canned food items. Arya was beyond surprised; most of the houses they hit looked almost pristine aside from the exterior walls, doors, windows, and roofs. There was an occasional wight to be dealt with, but for the most part, they had no problems. It was almost as if the denizens of Harroway had all simultaneously decided to just get up and leave.

After a while, Arya noticed that it was getting later on in the day, and she still wanted the group to head deeper into the town. Because of this, they decided to look through one final house. After Hot Pie rammed the door down, Arya immediately noticed a strong smell in the air. She recognized it immediately: decay. Weasel must have, too, evident by what flew out of her mouth as she beat the air in front of her face with her right hand in a futile attempt to clear up the smell before her.

"_Ugh!_" she groaned. "What _DIED?_"

Nymeria's head perked up, and she headed into the house, evidently picking up a scent.

Hot Pie noticed. "What's she doing?"

"She's got a scent," Arya answered. "Everyone follow her."

Everyone did as Arya said, and they followed Nymeria to a back room, evidently a closet. They found her scratching at the door. Arya drew her machete and ordered Nymeria to back off, which she did. She thought a wight would be behind the door. She opened it and found she was wrong. Instead, a heavily-decayed corpse fell out and landed face first on the tile floor with a wet sound.

Most lurched back with surprised shouts when they realized what they were looking at. Arya was silent, staring down the corpse. Due to the level of decay, she could not tell if it was a man or woman. What she also noticed was that all of the limbs had been removed, hacked off with something at the elbows or knees.

"Where are its arms and legs?" Weasel asked.

Arya knelt down to get a closer look. The hacking at the limbs were very hasty, as if someone had taken an ax or a machete and hastily hacked the limbs off. What Arya also noticed was that the limbs seemed more decayed than the face, meaning that the person was likely still alive when this happened.

"Arya, who do you think–"

Arya's answer to that cut Lommy off. "Whoever this guy is."

She moved to show everyone the bloodstained message that'd been hastily cut into the wall behind where the corpse had been.

**SHAGWELL WAS HERE!**

Arya didn't know who "Shagwell" was, but she didn't want anything to do with someone who tortured people for fun, especially if he or she was still in the same area. However, she still wanted the rest of the house searched before they left in case any food was there. They searched, but they didn't find anything they could use like food.

After leaving, Arya and the others began to head deeper into town like what they had planned earlier. Briefly looking up into the sky to find out where the sun was, Arya noticed that it was starting to near dusk.

_Just one quick run into town,_ Arya thought. _Then we'll take inventory in the RV and rest for the night. We'll keep heading deeper into Harroway tomorrow morning._

* * *

Lommy was in the process of siphoning gas from a car right before Arya pointed out the first wight they saw deeper in Harroway.

"Wight nearby," Arya commented, pointing towards it with her machete, which drew the attention of everyone. It was a sole wight that'd just appeared at a street corner from around a building. Then another came, then another, and then another. Arya's eyes widened as two, then six, then ten, then a dozen arrived, beginning to form a horde. "_Lommy, hurry that up,_" she urged.

As Lommy hurried, Arya watched as one wight turned its rotting head to look at the group. By then, it was dusk out, and things would very quickly get bad if the group had a horde on their hands when they needed to get back to the RV as soon as possible. Finally, Hot Pie broke the silence as one of the wights up front began to run. "_Run. NOW!_"

Heeding Hot Pie's frantic command, everyone turned and began to run back the way they came up a hill. Lommy, who had held back to get a tiny bit of more gas from the car he was siphoning it out of, finally jerked away from his activity and followed them, every now and then glancing at the bomb tied to his waist. Arya noticed this, too, and became annoyed when Lommy lit said bomb and chucked it at an abandoned car. The car was soon swarmed by wights, and it exploded, sending fire, gas, and burned metal bits everywhere as the wights surrounding it were engulfed in a fiery explosion. She knew the noise would draw more wights out, and she frowned when several of them came pouring out of the woods to the right of the street. Everyone was near a fork in the road. If they continued to run forward, they would make it back to the RV. If they turned left, they would be heading into the neighborhoods they found when they first got there.

Immediately, Weasel, Arya, and Nymeria ran for the four wights now out front. More were shambling from the woods, but these four were the immediate threat. Arya unsheathed her machete and swung sideways, quickly cutting into the creature's brain. Nearby, Nymeria jumped up and began to savage the deteriorated skull of another. Weasel had stabbed a wight in the knee to make it fall and drove her dagger through its eye into the brain. Arya dispatched the last wight when it ran for Weasel, crippling it before running her machete through the back of its neck into its skull.

At that point, Arya realized Hot Pie and Lommy were still behind them, and she turned to look at what they were doing. Hot Pie was swinging at several with his pipe. Nearby, Lommy was repeatedly spearing as many as he could see. It was then that each of the two groups noticed the wights filling in the space between them, effectively trapping Hot Pie and Lommy.

"_We'll go around!_" Lommy called over to Arya and the others, grabbing Hot Pie's shirt sleeve to hurry him along as he began to run. "_Just get back to the RV!_"

"Follow me!" Arya commanded to Weasel and Nymeria, and they took off after her towards the RV while Hot Pie and Lommy went another way. _How are you two getting back?_ Arya thought. _Are they going to climb?_

Fortunately for Arya, Weasel, and Nymeria, most of the wights in the horde had gone after Hot Pie and Lommy. Currently, Arya's small group of three was being tailed by about ten of them, though more were noticing and starting to come after them as well.

At that point, Arya could see the RV off in the distance. She knew that she could not afford to stop running, and neither could the others.

* * *

A few minutes after reaching the RV, Arya, Weasel and Nymeria had stood their ground against the wights for a few minutes before the former heard Lommy yell from the bottom of the hill that ended with the backyard they saw when they came in.

"_We're down here!_"

As Nymeria dealt with a wight, Arya and Weasel both ran over to see Hot Pie and Lommy at the bottom of the hill, looking upwards. Behind them, the wights were pushing themselves against a wooden fence Hot Pie and Lommy had closed and locked after reaching the backyard.

Unfortunately, the fence looked very close to falling soon. Because of this, Arya issued her next couple of orders to those down below. "You two, get to climbing!" She turned to Weasel. "You help me pull them up where when they get close enough!"

Weasel nodded. For the next minute, Arya and Weasel watched as Hot Pie and Lommy began to climb up the stones. As they began to climb, Arya heard a loud cracking noise and watched as the fence finally gave away, and the wights began to pour into the yard.

"_Hurry!_" Weasel cried. Below her, Hot Pie was getting there first, followed by Lommy down below. Eventually, when Hot Pie got close enough, he reached his hand out, and Arya grabbed it. Weasel grabbed what she could of Hot Pie, and the two used all of their combined strength to pull their fat friend to safety. Lommy was still behind him, and the wights had reached the stones, climbing atop themselves to use themselves as a ladder of dead. By the time Lommy got to where Hot Pie just was, he reached his hand out as well.

"_HELP!_" Lommy shouted.

Hot Pie got up from the ground and scurried over. He took hold of Lommy's hand just as a wight grabbed his ankle. Lommy slipped, dropped his spear into the wights, and caught on to another stone, forcibly pulling himself upwards onto the asphalt and away from the wights.

Lommy, panting, fell over the guard onto his back, crawling backwards to get away. It was then that he seemed to notice something. He looked beyond his knee at his lower left leg. It was then that everyone else walked over to see what he was staring at. Arya's eyes widened when she saw it on Lommy's lower calf, nearing the ankle: a deep, bleeding bite.

"No…" Hot Pie mumbled, then let his face collapse into his hands as he walked away, sounding tearful as he continued to mumble "_No, no, no, no…_"

Weasel looked to Arya, then to Lommy's bite, then to Arya again. She was shaking. Arya could hardly take her eyes off of Lommy's bite. Two things then popped into Arya's mind: Beric's wooden leg and Jeyne's tourniquet.

"Weasel, get my tourniquet. Hot Pie, take Lommy to the RV and hold him down."

Hot Pie looked confused. "_What?_"

"_JUST DO IT!_"

Shocked into obedience, Hot Pie ran to Lommy and began dragging him back. Lommy himself looked defeated and willing to accept death. The RV's door was open because Weasel had left it open. She soon reappeared in the doorway, the look on her face communicating that she was eager for more instructions.

Arya gave them to her. "Weasel, tighten than above his knee on the leg where he was bitten." By that time, Hot Pie had gotten Lommy over to the opened door of the RV and had leaned him in. Lommy now looked confused rather than accepting of soon death. Hot Pie, now likely fully realizing where this was going, sat on Lommy after stuffing a thick cloth into his mouth.

"You're gonna want to bite that," Hot Pie said. Nearby, some of the wights were beginning to crawl over the rail from the backyard.

By then, Weasel had tied the tourniquet around Lommy's bitten leg, and Arya unsheathed her machete. She took one look in Lommy's direction. He could not see her because of where Hot Pie was, but she knew he could hear her. "Lommy, this is going to _hurt a lot._"

Arya raised her machete into the air and swung down hard. Lommy screamed. Arya swung again, then again. Lommy passed out. Arya swung again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

Then one more time, taking Lommy's bitten leg off from half an inch below the knee down. Arya looked over at Hot Pie and Weasel as the wights began to close in. "Cover that stump's bleeding parts in gunpowder from some of our bullets and light it on fire. Wrap it in bandages after you're done."

As Hot Pie and Weasel pulled Lommy inside, Arya called for Nymeria, who hurried into the RV after them all. When she was inside, Arya slammed the door shut, locked it, and ran to the front seat, recalling the Heddle sisters. Jeyne Heddle was a healer, after all, and she would likely be able to treat Lommy's stump. Arya started the vehicle as Hot Pie looked over at her. "Where are we going?"

"Back to Jeyne and Willow," Arya explained. "They can help us."

She quickly did a u-turn and tore off back towards Crossroads. They were dangerously low on gas, and Arya didn't want them to run out.

* * *

"No! NO! _NO!_" Arya shouted, furiously slamming her hands on the steering wheel as the RV slowed to a halt when it ran out of gas. Thankfully, they were right near the fork in the road, where one could go to Saltpans or Harroway. Nearby, Hot Pie and Weasel were keeping a close look on Lommy, who was motionless.

Ever since the bandage had been applied to Lommy, nothing had happened. Arya kept wanting to look back to see what was going on, but nothing ever happened. Lommy looked pale and dead, though she was sure he was clinging on to life as much as he could. Arya knew he would be annoyed over having to make a new spear, but it beat being turned into a wight.

"What's wrong?" Weasel asked. "Why are we stopping?"

"We ran out of gas," Arya explained. "I need to get out and refuel."

Arya shut the RV off, got a red gas can, and exited. After a minute of getting everything ready, she began to refuel. While working, Arya thought back to Lommy, hoping that his paleness was due to blood loss instead of the bite. She thought that he would have turned by now if he kept the leg, but was he just dead? Did cutting the leg off slow down the bite at all? Did it stop it altogether?

As Arya continued to work, she heard someone step out of the RV and approach her. She turned her head and turned back to her work when she saw who it was: Hot Pie.

"Hey, Arya…"

Arya didn't turn her head. "Yeah?"

"We need to talk about Lommy."

"What about him? We need to wait until we get to Jeyne and Willow's house."

Hot Pie approached, raising his voice in the process. "Why wait? I mean he might be turning right now! We might need to do something–"

"Then pull back his eyelids. See if they're turning from green to blue if you want to know so badly."

There was a tense silence before Hot Pie said anything else. "_Look, someone has to address this!_"

"And we'll talk about it later."

Hot Pie, enraged, then grabbed Arya by the shoulders, swiveled her around so that she would be facing him, and then slammed her against the side of the RV. "_No, we need to talk about this RIGHT NOW–_"

Arya slapped him across the face. Hot Pie recoiled as Arya began to scold him. "_HOT PIE, WE NEED TO JUST WAIT! I'M CONCERNED ABOUT THIS AS MUCH AS YOU ARE, AND WE JUST NEED TO WAIT! YOU KNOW FULLY WELL WHAT TO DO IF HE TURNS! WE JUST NEED TO GET BACK TO JEYNE AND WILLOW, AND THAT'S ALL THAT NEEDS TO BE SAID RIGHT NOW!_"

Hot Pie frowned. "I understand. I'll go back inside the RV."

As he left, Arya continued to refuel the RV. A few minutes later, she ran out of gas to put into the RV, so she returned to the interior of the vehicle and headed up to the front. Turning the RV on, she watched the fuel meter moved to indicate that the gas tank was almost full. Pleased with this, she continued towards the fork in the road to head to Saltpans or Crossroads. She turned left and went towards Crossroads.

However, one thing she noticed while making the turn made her feel a little unsettled. Sitting in a black car with a heavily-damaged, green front license plate were two men watching them. They were located on the road that would take them to Saltpans. Arya could tell that they were watching her every movement, and she hoped they would not follow her back to Crossroads.

* * *

Right before nightfall, the RV made it back to Jeyne and Willow's home. By the time Arya pulled into the Heddles' yard, she could see Willow carrying a bucket into the shed out front. Willow definitely noticed the RV, evident by her dropping the bucket and running into the house, likely to alert Jeyne about their return to the house.

In the back, Lommy was still unmoving, and Arya was starting to think he was dying or already dead. She didn't even know if he was awake or not. He was more pale than before. By the time Arya shut the car off and unlocked the door, she noticed the front door of the Heddles' home open. Arya looked over at Lommy and spoke to Hot Pie and Weasel.

"Get him ready to be moved."

A few moments later, Arya heard a sharp rapping on the door of the RV. She moved over there and opened the door, finding both Jeyne and Willow Heddle on the other side.

"What's going on?" Jeyne asked.

"Lommy was bitten," Arya explained. "I had to take his leg off."

"Where is he?" Jeyne asked, then entered the RV with Willow in tow.

Arya got out of the way as Lommy was carried out of the RV by Hot Pie, Willow, Jeyne, and Weasel. By the time they got outside, Arya followed them out and assisted them with carrying Lommy into the house. They hurried him into what Arya supposed was a bedroom of sorts. Nearby, a box of medical supplies was adjacent to the bed Lommy was placed on. Someone turned on the overhead light, and Jeyne looked at the others in the room to address them.

"Okay, I need to work alone. Willow, take them out."

Willow ushered Arya, Hot Pie, and Weasel out of the room. She directed them to the end of the hallway. By that time, Willow had put her hands on her hips and glowered at Arya, Hot Pie, and Weasel. "Alright, start talking," she said in a commanding tone. "Where are the other two? Gendry and Edric?"

"They left," Arya explained. "We ran into the Brotherhood, and they left with them."

"So what happened to Lommy?" Willow pressed, speaking more like a drill sergeant than an adolescent girl. "How and where did he get bitten?"

"Harroway," Hot Pie spoke up. "We were climbing up a hill to get away from some wights, and they grabbed him and bit him in the ankle or calf, I think it was the ankle. Arya had us hold him down while she cut off his leg." Hot Pie looked very uncomfortable–likely due to Willow's domineering and commanding tone of voice she'd selected for this interrogation, then mumbled out, "_Please don't hurt me._"

Willow snorted. "Hot Pie, I'd never hurt you to get information–" She pointed at Hot Pie when she said this, then moved her hand to point at Arya when she continued speaking "–but maybe _her_."

Arya frowned. Before she could say anything else, Willow hit them all with another barrage of questions. Just as Hot Pie answered the last one she had for them, Jeyne emerged from the bedroom, quickly approaching them. She had latex gloves on her hands. They didn't seem to do her any good; her arms up to her elbows were spattered with Lommy's blood.

"Willow, get out of my way," Jeyne said, sounding a little tired and aggravated as a result. "I need to talk to them."

"Is Lommy okay?" Weasel asked.

"For now," Jeyne asked. "Arya, you stopped the infection by cutting that leg off, but he's not out of the woods just yet. You did the right thing with the tourniquet and bandage, but the gunpowder could have gone better. Chances are, his leg's probably infected because of that, but I'll give you credit for stopping the bleeding as much as you possibly could.

"However, he still lost quite a bit of blood, and he's fluctuating between life and death right now. He needs his rest, and so do all of us. I suggest you all gather in your RV and get some sleep. Plus, I need to speak with my sister alone about your presence here."

Arya, Hot Pie, and Weasel followed Jeyne's instructions and left the house to sleep in the RV for the night. By then, it was night out. Entering the RV, Nymeria's head perked up, and she watched them. Hot Pie tried to get comfortable while Arya got to work with putting Weasel to bed.

"Arya?" Weasel said.

"Yes?"

"Is Lommy going to be okay? Because I don't know for sure."

"I don't know, either," Arya answered. "We just need to wait and see. Try to get some sleep."

While Weasel and Hot Pie may have gotten some sleep, Arya could barely get a good night's rest herself. Lommy was the only thing on her mind at the time, and she wondered if he would even live to see another day. She figured that Jeyne would be working on Lommy's leg all throughout the night, but even Jeyne Heddle would need to get some sleep eventually.

* * *

Arya, who kept waking up in the night and whose nerves were completely shot at that point, lurched awake when she heard someone rapping on the RV's door from the outside. Hot Pie and Weasel definitely heard it, too, evident by them mumbling as they each woke up.

"Arya?" Willow said from the outside. "Are you awake? Are you in there?"

"Yeah…" Arya mumbled, rubbing her eyes. "What is it?"

"Jeyne wanted to see you."

Arya, Hot Pie, Weasel, and Nymeria all walked out of the RV together and all followed Willow towards the house. During the walk over there, Arya thought of Willow's statement and tone of voice and what they both implied.

At first, she thought that Lommy was dead. However, as she entered the house and began to walk down the hallway while Willow still led them, she could hear a conversation off in the distance. One voice sounded weak, like someone had just woken up after something serious.

"Really?"

"_Yes, yeah, I do… I feel like…_"

"Yes?"

"_I can still feel my foot…_"

Willow led Arya, Hot Pie, Weasel, and Nymeria into the room, and there they found Lommy sitting next to Jeyne on the side of the bed. Arya looked down and, sure enough, where the lower half of Lommy's leg should have been was a stump wrapped in medical bandages. Lommy looked over at Arya and the others. His face was still a little pale, but he had more of a healthy look about himself now.

"Hi, Arya," Lommy said.

"How are you feeling?" Arya asked.

"_It still hurts… I can still feel my foot…_"

"But you lived," Hot Pie commented.

Lommy nodded a few times. "_Yeah, all thanks to Arya and Jeyne here._" Lommy wrapped an arm around Jeyne and patted her on the shoulder. Jeyne smiled. Nymeria walked up to Lommy, who held his hand out for Nymeria to lick. While they interacted, Arya spoke with Jeyne.

"Jeyne, I'm curious."

"Yeah?"

"How did you pull that off? I mean I know you're not a professional surgeon, but–"

"I've had practice with lost body parts," Jeyne explained. "A while ago, Willow and I had to briefly take in a warrior woman who was traveling with this guy who'd recently lost a hand to the Brave Companions. The Brave Companions patched it up themselves–they have a healer among them all, apparently–but whoever did it did a terrible job of it. I had to fix what their healer failed at doing. The two of them left the house the next day, and we haven't seen them since."

"We also had something else we wanted to ask," Willow explained, turning around to face Arya, Hot Pie, and Weasel. "I told Jeyne what you told me, and we got to talking. We now have something to ask of you: would you all like to stay here with us?"

Arya couldn't believe what she was hearing. Willow and Jeyne had just offered them a home with the both of them. They had been on the road for years, and now it seemed like they finally had somewhere to stay permanently. It would be good for all of them to finally have a place to stay, so Arya made her choice.

"I'm willing to stay," Arya said, then looked at everyone else. "What about you?"

"I will," Hot Pie said.

"_Yeah!_" Weasel cheered.

"_I'm staying with you,_" Lommy said.

"We'll stay, then," Arya announced.


	9. Isolation Interrupted (2016)

**Chapter Nine:**

**Isolation Interrupted (2016)**

* * *

Arya, stepping out of her and Weasel's shared bedroom into the upstairs hallway, rubbed her blurry eyes. Seeing the unkempt sheets of Weasel's bed, Arya could tell that she was already gone, doing whatever. Arya figured that Weasel was most likely tending to one of her two responsibilities which Arya had given her: either acting as a lookout or fishing with one of the multiple fishing spears that Lommy had made. Nymeria, who had been asleep on the floor, noticed her master leaving and followed Arya out into the hallway.

After Arya's group moved in with the Heddle sisters, Arya kept her position as the group's leader while Willow became her second in command because of the latter's commanding personality and skill at giving out orders. Aside from Weasel, Arya spent the most time with Willow and shared the most information with her. Speaking of Willow, Arya made her way down the stairs and smelled the food she and Hot Pie were currently making. The smell was wafting out of the kitchen.

Entering the kitchen, Arya stayed quiet as she watched what unfolded before her. Hot Pie and Willow were standing side-by-side in front of a stove. Arya noticed that she had just caught the end of a discussion between the two of them. Willow and Hot Pie reached around and gave each other a side hug. Before they split ways, Willow turned her head and lightly kissed his cheek before turning to attend to something else in the room.

Arya grinned. "Hot Pie."

Startled, Hot Pie gasped and turned around as quickly as he could, nearly dropping some of the utensils in his hands. He looked relieved when he saw who it was. "_Oh, hi, Arya._"

Throughout the past year, Arya had discovered that Hot Pie and Willow had formed a romantic relationship they didn't tell anyone else about. Arya noticed that they tried to keep quiet about it, but it was an open secret among the whole group. Arya was amused whenever Hot Pie and Willow tried to be slick about what was going on between them because it was really obvious if you were paying attention at all, even a little. Arya sometimes found herself thinking, _At least they're more secretive about it than Lommy and Jeyne are about their own thing._

"What are you making with Willow in here?" Arya asked.

Hot Pie still looked a little startled. "_R-rabbit… s-s-stew._"

"For who?"

"People who are interested in lunch."

"Alright, have you or Willow seen Weasel around at all?"

Willow, who had her hands full with skinning a rabbit they'd hunted the day before, called over to Arya from the other side of the room. "Yeah, I did. She ran right out the front door, and I think she's going fishing right now."

"Okay, thank you, Willow," Arya said as she turned to leave through the front door of the house, calling to Hot Pie and Willow over her shoulder, "I'll be back for some of that stew later."

Arya went outside, and Nymeria followed her into the front yard of the Heddles' home. Arya immediately noticed the large hole dug in the center of the yard, a shovel and a massive pile of dirt right next to it. She knew who had been the one doing this; for the past number of weeks, Lommy had discussed constructing a "defense bomb" to put in the center of the yard in case many wights arrived or if they were attacked by a hostile group. Arya had yet to see this bomb, but she felt like she would see it in the near future when Lommy lowered it into the earth with the assistance of a few others. If she really got curious, she could go into the basement where the bomb was likely located; most of the basement had been made into Lommy's personal workshop. He sometimes disappeared down there for whole days, only to emerge to eat or see Jeyne or Hot Pie. Arya heard stories from Jeyne that he kept empty water bottles to urinate into, but Arya personally doubted the authenticity of some of these claims.

"Weasel?" Arya called, taking a few steps into the yard. Getting no response, she called again. "_Weasel?_"

Weasel herself appeared, walking out from the shed out front with one of the fishing spears. A bucket was in her other hand. The two locked eyes, and they approached, stopping when they were a yard away from each other.

"You were out here in the shed?" Arya asked.

Weasel nodded. "Yes. I'm going fishing. It's my responsibility."

Arya couldn't help but feel prideful seeing Weasel like this. She didn't really eat dirt anymore, and ever since she and the others moved in with the Heddles, her literacy skills had improved significantly, and she had become more adept at hunting. She even accompanied Arya and Nymeria and the others when they hunted every now and then. Weasel was less fearful, and Arya could see a strong sense of bravery in the former's hazel eyes.

Arya was about to ask Weasel if she could accompany her to go spearing fish in the river behind the house, but Weasel cut her off before she could even get a word out.

"Lommy wanted to see you."

"Where is he?"

"The basement," Weasel answered, then turned to head to her station at the riverbank behind the house.

Arya turned to head back into the house. Pleased that she had found Weasel, she now wanted to hear whatever it was Lommy had to say to her. Arya figured that whatever Lommy had to say to her, it was going to be worthwhile.

* * *

Nymeria stayed behind on the first floor as Arya entered the door to head into the basement. Walking down the stairs, she noticed that the lights were on, and she could hear Lommy and Jeyne talking in the distance. Heading into the basement, Arya turned and noticed Lommy and Jeyne each sitting in a wooden chair across from each other, still talking. Arya had to breathe a sigh of relief that they were only just talking.

Like Hot Pie and Willow, they were in love, though the relationship between Lommy and Jeyne was much more passionate. They could often be found being affectionate out in the open and, multiple times, Arya had to have a stern discussion with the both of them after she'd walked in on them in a compromising position.

While Arya was annoyed about all of this, she was sure that if Sansa were there with them, she would have absolutely gushed over something like this. Before the apocalypse started, Sansa had been a fan and avid collector of trashy and sappy romance novels, and she would have likely called Lommy and Jeyne's relationship a "textbook case of the Florence Nightingale Effect". Arya knew what that meant, and she supposed it made sense; while Lommy was healing after his leg was hastily hacked off by Arya using her machete, Jeyne had been the main person there to tend to his needs. After Lommy made a wooden leg for himself to use, Jeyne had been the one to teach him to walk properly again. Arya supposed that this was when they started liking each other before completely becoming very attracted to one another.

"Hey, you wanted to see me?" Arya called into the distance. Both Lommy and Jeyne looked over to see her.

"Yeah, I did," Lommy explained, getting up from his seat to approach her. Arya got a look at Lommy's wooden leg, and she noticed a faint hint of a limp in said leg. Lommy limped (and fell) quite a bit back when he was getting used to his new limb, and he had gotten more used to it as time passed.

"Alright," Arya said, "what do you want to talk to me about?"

Lommy got up and walked over to a table, which had a white sheet covering something large. He gripped the sheet with both hands, then looked at Arya, grinning. "Watch this." Lommy swung the sheet off and revealed what was beneath: two propane tanks tied together, with fertilizer and other combustible materials tied around it. Arya realized that this was Lommy's finished new bomb.

"Isn't it lovely?" Lommy said, still beaming with pride in his creation as he faced Arya and Jeyne. "I call it 'La Diabla'."

"Is it complete?" Arya asked.

"Almost," Lommy explained. "All I need to do is lower it into the big hole I've got dug out in the front yard, and I need to attach the wire to light it if I need to."

"Have you made this wire?" Arya asked.

Lommy nodded as he answered. "Yeah, yeah," he said, almost giddily. "It's a really simple set-up, and I can show you–"

He moved to go reach for something. Arya protested immediately. "No, that's okay, Lommy. You should do that when you put it in the ground."

"Alright." Lommy shrugged. "Suit yourself."

Arya had no idea why Lommy wanted to put the cart before the horse and wire up La Diabla in the basement when it was meant to go in the front yard. For a second, an image flickered through her mind of said bomb going off in the basement, killing Lommy, Jeyne, and then Arya herself before collapsing the house and probably killing others in the scenario. Arya discarded the thought; it was better to avoid becoming paranoid.

"Is that all, Lommy?" Arya asked.

"No," Lommy answered. "La Diabla is pretty heavy, so I need some help putting it into the ground. Jeyne's already agreed to help, but what about you?"

"Sure."

"Thanks for helping us," Jeyne said.

"I'm going hunting with Nymeria and Hot Pie in a bit, so I'll help you when I come back," Arya said before leaving.

* * *

That day, Arya and Hot Pie, accompanied by Nymeria, went out hunting in the woods. In the year since Arya's group had joined the Heddles, they had found a shotgun, which Hot Pie used for hunting since he was rather bad at chasing animals down due to his weight and slow speed. Arya had seen this before, and she felt annoyed when Hot Pie let food get away when he fell. Nowadays, this was almost no longer an issue. Lommy suggested the group try to seek out more firearms, though they hadn't found any yet.

Returning back to the house, Arya and Hot Pie took their kills, five rabbits and a bird, to the kitchen to take inventory with Willow. Nearby, Weasel had two buckets full of fish she'd speared. Arya felt impressed when she saw this, and a hint of pride went through her when she realized what she was looking at. Weasel herself quietly sat and watched Arya, Hot Pie, and Willow take inventory.

After this ended, Arya approached Weasel. "How are Lommy and Jeyne?"

"Lommy finished his bomb," Weasel answered. "He wants you to help him and Jeyne carry it up the stairs."

Arya was willing to help. She knew that there would likely be a need for another person to carry La Diabla up the stairs, so she looked over to Hot Pie. "Hey, Hot Pie–"

"I heard," he said, turning to walk towards the stairs to head into the basement. Arya followed.

Arya and Hot Pie walked into the basement, and they soon found Lommy and Jeyne, who were getting La Diabla ready to be moved upstairs and into the front yard.

"Oh, good, you're here," Lommy said. "I was just about to go up there and look for you."

"What do we do?" Hot Pie asked.

"Get on one corner," Lommy answered. "We'll carry La Diabla up that way."

Carrying the bomb up the basement stairs, Arya and Hot Pie were closer to the door while Lommy and Jeyne were in the back. They were doing a fine job of carrying La Diabla up the stairs for a short while, then Arya noticed someone stumble in the back. Hot Pie must have noticed, too, evident by what he said next.

"What's going on down there?" Hot Pie asked.

"Sorry!" Lommy called back. "I slipped a bit, and it's kind of coming up all catawampus on my end here!"

"Try not to drop it!" Arya shouted down to Lommy and Jeyne's area.

Arya sincerely hoped that if they dropped it in some accident, it wouldn't go off and kill them all. However, she tried to reassure herself that the bomb would only go off if the wire connected to it was activated somehow.

After a few more minutes, the four managed to get it out into the first floor of the house and out into the yard. They slowly placed La Diabla into the big hole that'd been dug in the yard. When it was out, Lommy looked over at Arya, Jeyne, and Hot Pie as he began to pull the wire out from the hole, dragging it towards the exterior wall of the house as he spoke to the others. "Start putting the dirt back in."

As Arya, Jeyne, and Hot Pie began to get to work, Lommy continued his own activity.

* * *

Hours later, the group sat at the picnic table outside when dusk began to roll in. Nymeria did not sit at the table, but she sat down on the ground nearby. Hot Pie and Willow had served the whole group rabbit and fish with some stew and vegetables as well. Arya sat next to Weasel and every now and then glanced at her to make sure she was eating properly.

When they first started doing this, Weasel would flick her food at random people sitting at the table. Arya let it fly at first, but when Willow shot Weasel a very angry glare one night after getting half a carrot thrown at her head, Arya took Weasel away from everyone and explained why acting like that was a bad idea. She seemed to listen and understand.

_At least she's not eating mud anymore,_ Arya thought. She hadn't seen Weasel eating any mud in a long, long time. She had either stopped or was keeping it a secret.

Arya then got a look at everyone else. Hot Pie was eating as quickly as possible, seemingly eager to shove as much down his throat as he could. Willow was eating slowly. Nearby, Lommy and Jeyne were practically glued together. Lommy had an arm wrapped around Jeyne, and they seemed to share their own food. Taking some of the cooked rabbit from her own food, Arya whistled to get Nymeria's attention and threw the meat towards her. Nymeria caught it in her mouth.

After a while, the group started talking. Hot Pie began telling jokes, and it was on from there. Joke after funny story after joke after funny story followed, laughter accompanying it as well. Even Willow let her guard down a bit during the process of this. When they were done, they moved to head on inside, and Arya looked over to see the wire jutting out of the ground, trailing across the yard, climbing up the wall of the house, and entering through a crack in a second story window. Lommy had finished setting up La Diabla earlier in the day.

* * *

"I want to go, too."

"No, Weasel."

"Why not?"

"It's just going to be me, Hot Pie, and Nymeria today. Maybe next time."

Frowning, Weasel was quiet for a moment. "Fine. I'll help Lommy or Willow or something."

Weasel turned to head off somewhere else. Arya, Hot Pie, and Nymeria had been in the process of heading out to go hunting, and Weasel had hurried over to them when she saw them leaving. As Arya, Hot Pie, and Nymeria exited the property to walk down the dirt path, Hot Pie started a conversation.

"She really wants to spend time with you, huh?"

"Yeah," Arya answered. "Honestly, I think she likes me the most."

"Yes," Hot Pie agreed, nodding. After a short while, the two disappeared into the woods with Nymeria in tow.

Hours later, Arya, Hot Pie, and Nymeria had hunted various rabbits and some birds. Arya, looking up at the sky, figured that it would be getting dark out soon. Disappointed that they hadn't discovered much food, the two started to make their way back to the house.

Arya thought that, maybe, the Brotherhood Without Banners would arrive to trade. Usually, two or three people from the Brotherhood arrived at the house to trade. Arya hoped that Gendry and or Edric would be among them one day, but neither ever showed up.

"I'm disappointed," Hot Pie said.

"So am I," Arya replied. "Maybe we'll find more tomorrow."

Hot Pie nodded. "Yes, that's…"

He trailed off as he looked ahead. Three things were before them: two wights and a black car. Arya noticed as well, and she and Hot Pie dropped their sacks of dead animals to attack the very much rotted wights. As the wights took noticed and charged towards the nearby humans, Arya drew her machete and charged, ramming it into its remaining eye. Hot Pie blew the brains out of the other with his shotgun, and it fell backwards and didn't get back up.

"How many bullets do you have left?" Arya asked.

"That was my last one," Hot Pie answered. "The rest are back at the house."

Now they turned their attention to the car. As Arya and Hot Pie approached to look into the windows, Nymeria picked up a scent after sniffing the wights and moved to the back of the car, towards the trunk. They looked inside the window at the same time after putting their weapons away.

"Tell me if you see something you think is significant," Arya instructed. Hot Pie nodded.

At first, Arya did not notice anything. It looked like whoever owned the car had just abandoned it in the woods. Aside from a box of bullets sitting on the backseat, there was no sign of someone being present there. Arya tried the handle of the side door where she was, and it opened.

"Do you think they're gone?" Arya asked.

"I don't know," Hot Pie answered. "That bullet box makes me think they're around."

Arya moved to the front hood of the car, and she stopped when she saw the green front license plate. This was the same car she'd seen on the road to Saltpans a year before the night she'd cut Lommy's leg off.

"Arya?" Hot Pie approached her. "Did you find something?"

"Look," she said, pointing to the license plate. "You see that?"

"The license plate?"

"Yes, this is the same exact car I saw."

"What car?"

"You remember when we cut Lommy's leg off? When we were heading to the intersection, I saw a car that looked exactly like this with the exact same license plate on the street heading to Saltpans."

"Meaning?"

"This is owned by the Brave Companions."

This hung in the air before Hot Pie said anything else. "Then let's get Nymeria and leave. Warn the others that the Brave Companions are in the area. Hey, where _is_ Nymeria?"

Arya then noticed Nymeria's absence, but they quickly found her sniffing and scratching at the trunk. Curious about what was getting Nymeria so worked up, Arya moved to open the trunk. Because of how damaged it was, it was held shut by a black bungee cord. Arya drew her machete again and sliced it open. She flung it open with her free hand and was hit with a hideous smell. Arya and Hot Pie peered into the trunk and found it filled with severed limbs, including solitary hands and feet. They were all in various stages of decay. To Arya, this was the final nail in the coffin regarding confirming the identity of the group who owned the car. Before speaking, Arya drove her machete into the nearest back tire of the car to prevent them from following them if they decided to give chase.

"We need to leave," Arya said. "_Now._"

Arya and Hot Pie turned to grab their bags of hunted animals and run, Nymeria following closely behind.

* * *

Upon their return to the house, Arya and Hot Pie dropped off their hunted animals in the kitchen. Willow was there to help Hot Pie manage the new food. Weasel was there to say hello to Arya and give her a hug. While Arya appreciated the affection from Weasel, she had a different priority in mind ever since the discovery in the woods.

"Weasel, where are Lommy and Jeyne?"

Weasel paused to think for a moment. "In the house somewhere. I think they went into the basement a while ago."

Arya, not desiring any more information, made her way down to the basement to see if Lommy and Jeyne were indeed down there. Making her way down the stairs, she heard people making noises, likely talking. However, knowing Lommy and Jeyne, Arya braced herself for potentially seeing anything down there. After a brief while, Arya found them, their faces inches apart.

Jeyne noticed her first. "_Oh!_" She and Lommy seemed flustered, as if Arya had interrupted whatever they were in the process of doing. Jeyne smoothed out something Arya didn't notice at first and then continued speaking. "_Arya!_ Do you need anything?"

"Yes," Arya answered, ignoring Lommy and Jeyne's flustered states. "Gather everyone in the living room."

For the next five minutes, Arya, Lommy, and Jeyne went to gather everyone in the house into the living room. Arya stood in front of everyone when they were all amassed in the living room, and she looked over at Hot Pie.

"Hot Pie, you were with me when it happened, so please come over here and explain this with me."

Hot Pie waddled over to Arya and stood to her left when he reached her, facing everyone else. Arya cleared her throat and began. "Hot Pie and I have reason to believe that the Brave Companions are in the area."

Jeyne looked alarmed as Arya continued speaking. "Hot Pie and I found a black car with a green license plate out in the woods, and I remember seeing that same car on a road leading to Saltpans the night we cut Lommy's leg off."

Hot Pie nodded. "Yeah, yeah, and Nymeria was picking at the trunk. We opened it, and it was full of severed arms and legs. Some lone hands and feet were in there, too."

A chorus of concerned statements came from everyone, and Jeyne looked more concerned than before. Her following statement confirmed her feelings regarding everything that was going on. "_No, no… they know Willow and I live here…_ they must be coming back for us. _I know what happens to people they kidnap,_ I _KNOW_ what happens to–"

Lommy wrapped a comforting arm around her. "Just take a deep breath, Jeyne. We'll figure something out."

Willow walked over to Arya. "What are we gonna do?"

Arya paused to think for a moment. They had been living at peace in their seeming blissful isolation for so long–besides the occasional wight or hostile animal showing up–that they hadn't thought to build up defenses. And who knew how long they had before the Brave Companions arrived at the house if Jeyne's concerns turned out to be accurate. They needed to get to work. And fast. Arya now felt a little hope that she'd held them off for some time by putting out one of the tires on the car when she and Hot Pie found it in the woods.

"Everybody, start doing whatever you can to fortify the house," Arya ordered, speaking loudly enough so that everyone could hear.

* * *

They worked all through the rest of the day and the following two days. By the last day, Lommy had made several more explosives. They had taken inventory of all of their weaponry, and Arya, Jeyne, and Hot Pie had taken the time to wrap the entire chain link fence around the property in barbed wire. A few crates had been brought up from the basement, filled with miscellaneous heavy scrap, and placed in front of the opening where a car could drive through. However, they only had two, so Arya hoped that the admittedly shoddy barricade would work. Everyone always had a weapon on hand, anticipating an attack from the Brave Companions at any moment.

When they were all finished with their tasks, it was close to dusk. Arya, Hot Pie, Lommy, Weasel, Jeyne, Willow, and Nymeria all gathered in the front yard to discuss the situation.

"Okay, is that everything?" Hot Pie asked.

"I think so," Willow answered, then looked at Arya. "Can you think of anything else?"

"No, no," Arya said. "I think we'll be okay. Lommy, if they get in the yard, set La Diabla off."

Lommy grinned. "Alright, I will–"

"_Look!_" Hot Pie shouted, pointing towards the woods. Everyone turned, and they saw a black car with a green front license plate approaching at a fast speed.

Realizing what was about to happen, Arya shook Weasel to get her attention. "Weasel," she said in an urgent tone, "go to the kitchen, get the biggest knife you can find, and barricade yourself in the basement until this is all over."

Weasel nodded and ran off. Meanwhile, Willow and Lommy quickly went back inside the house. This left Arya, Jeyne, and Hot Pie in the yard, respectively wielding her machete, her crossbow, and his shotgun. Hot Pie was to Arya's left, and Jeyne was to her right. Nymeria was nearby, hidden off to the side, and all four watched as the black car sped up, likely to one hundred miles per hour, and rammed through the crates with a loud sound. The car was very damaged as a result of this, though the Brave Companions members were still in the yard.

The men began to pile out of the car. The driver was, to Arya's horror, Rorge. _I thought he died years ago,_ she thought. Also exiting the car were Biter and three men she didn't recognize. One of them was a shorter man who had a crazed look in his eyes. He looked over the three in the yard, grinned, and licked his lips.

"Iggo, Pyg, get to my left," Rorge ordered. "Biter, Shagwell, to my right."

Iggo and Pyg, the two men Arya had seen in the car the year before, did as they were told. Biter and Shagwell, the man who'd licked his lips, did what they were told as well. After a brief while, Rorge stood across from Arya. Jeyne and Hot Pie kept their weapons trained on the Brave Companions. Rorge had various scars across his face, but he looked the same as when Arya last saw him. The same went for Biter as well.

"_Why are you here?_" Arya demanded, tightly gripping her machete.

"We were scouting, and we saw you here," Rorge said, laughing. "Next time, make sure we don't have a spare tire in the trunk." All of them people in the group with the exception of Rorge and Biter were armed.

Arya didn't believe him when he claimed they were only scouting the area. The barricade being rammed through proved to her that their intentions were not to her own group's benefit. She spoke again as her eyes narrowed. "_Leave. Now._"

Rorge laughed again, this time more loudly than before. Some of his cohorts joined in. "I remember you from Winterfell. You think you can act threatening? Think again. Now here's what's going to happen: we're going to kill all of you, maybe take some of you back to Saltpans, then rob your house and take everything we can use–"

"_What's going on here?!_"

The loud shout drew Arya's attention. Behind the Brave Companions members and the fence, two Brotherhood Without Banners members had arrived: Watty and Alyn. Arya had realized that in the group's haste to fortify the property, they'd let the trade they kept with the Brotherhood slip from their minds.

Shouting erupted between the Brotherhood and Brave Companions members as they seemed to recognize one another. Watty produced a bat while Alyn pulled out a crossbow as Shagwell, armed with a morning star, turned to face them. As everyone kept yelling, Iggo raised his rifle at Arya's group and fired. Arya's attention was drawn to the shattering of the glass that made up the window behind Jeyne's head. As Arya realized that he'd intended to blow Jeyne's brains out and missed, all of Rorge's group sans Shagwell–who stayed behind to do battle with Watty and Alyn–emitted a loud war cry and charged towards Arya's group up front.

Arya, Hot Pie, and Jeyne quickly ran backwards towards the front of the house as the Brave Companions reached the middle of the street. However, before they could get closer, a loud explosion emitted from the middle of the yard. Fire, dirt, and debris went flying in all directions as La Diabla went off underground. Rorge and Biter were the most unscathed, and they were knocked forward. Iggo was screaming as parts of his body were burned, and Pyg was in several burning pieces, dead. Hot Pie and Jeyne raised their weapons and began shooting. Hot Pie missed hitting either Rorge or Biter twice, and a crossbow bolt from Jeyne found itself in Biter's massive belly. It didn't seem to bother him, evident by him tearing it from his bloated flesh like it was nothing and snapping in his hand like it was a toothpick.

Iggo, who was still in great pain, charged at Arya and tackled her to the ground at full speed. He wrapped his hands around her throat and began to choke her. Arya responded by swinging her machete at his side, hacking at it as much as she could in the awkward position. Beyond them both, Arya watched as Shagwell knocked down Watty and subsequently crushed his skull with his morning star. Despite Arya's efforts, Iggo did not let go as he progressively tightened his grip; he was determined to kill her.

A few seconds later, Arya heard growling and then watched as Nymeria appeared and bit down into Iggo's left arm, yanking back and shaking it around in her mouth while growling savagely. Iggo let out a loud shout and released her grip on Arya as Hot Pie fired off another blast from his shotgun. Arya didn't see if he hit anything; she was focused on Iggo. She jumped to her feet, ran over, and kicked Iggo in the face as hard as she could. He landed on his back, and Nymeria dove forward, tearing into his throat.

Realizing that Rorge and Biter were still coming at them, Arya called over to the others. "_FALL BACK!_ THE HOUSE HAS BARRICADES! _FALL BACK!_"

Arya, Hot Pie, and Jeyne darted into the house as Nymeria took off from Iggo's dying, convulsing, and gurgling form towards the backyard. Once inside, Jeyne slammed the door shut, locked it, and, with Arya and Hot Pie's help, began pushing a bookcase in front of it. As soon as they finished, someone slammed their full body weight against the door from the outside.

"_OPEN UP!_" Rorge screamed as he slammed himself against the door again. "_WE KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE!_"

Willow appeared in the hallway. "_What's happening?!_" she shouted, running over to Arya. Jeyne and Hot Pie were further away from them, closer to the stairwell to take them upstairs where Lommy was located.

"_Barricade the door!_" Arya commanded as Rorge slammed himself against it two more times. Arya could hear the sound of wood splintering and cracking. "_They're trying to get inside the–_"

She never got a chance to finish. The bookcase flew back and landed against the wall as Rorge broke the door down, tearing it in half in the process. He stormed in and immediately noticed Arya and Willow. He had murder in his eyes.

"_BITER, GET THE FAT ONE!_" Rorge screamed as he tore down the hallway towards Arya and Willow while Biter poured in. Since Willow was up front, he reached her first. Willow had a metal pipe. She yelled and swung, but Rorge caught it, threw it over his shoulder, and punched Willow right in the face. Arya ran to help, but before she could reach Willow, Rorge grabbed the disoriented Willow by the back of her head and slammed her face first into the adjacent wall, breaking through and hitting a stud.

Rorge dropped Willow, who was now limp, and charged over her at Arya. Arya was about to swing her machete, but before she could hit him with it, Rorge grabbed her and threw her out the window across from them both. The window broke, and glass shards cut Arya's skin as she was chucked out of the window and landed on the grass on the side of the house, right next to the rapid, powerful river than ran up against the house.

As Arya climbed to her feet, still gripping her weapon, Rorge climbed through the window and made his way over to her in four quick strides as she got to her feet. Yelling, Arya swung her machete and actually landed a hit on Rorge. He responded by swinging at fist at her. Arya ducked out of the way and rolled to the side, then jumped up and made a dash, intending to impale Rorge through the side. Unfortunately, Rorge was too smart, and he noticed her. He swung again. Arya jumped and aimed for the face instead, swinging from the side instead of trying to impale him through an eye or something. Rorge screamed as he shoved Arya away from him with both hands.

Landing on her back, Arya began to climb to her feet as she noticed the blood now gushing from the center of Rorge's face. _What did I do?_ Her eyes widened as she noticed that she'd cleaved his nose clean off. There wasn't even a trace of nose left; just a red hole.

Seeing this as her chance, Arya roared and charged, jumping again, this time intending to ram her machete through the nose hole. Instead, Rorge swung one of his arms upward and hit her with a hard uppercut, knocking her back. Arya tried to get up, but Rorge was on her in seconds. He grabbed her by the throat with his left and choke slammed her against the exterior wall of the house. With his right, he punched her in the left cheek, then the jaw, then in between the eyes. Arya felt everything, and she began to get disoriented. Finally, he ended his series of attacks by giving her a hard blow to the side of her head.

Gagging, Arya dropped her machete and fell, rolling over in pain. She was incredibly dizzy, and her vision was blurry. She began to slowly crawl to her fallen machete, but Rorge beat her to it, stamping down on the blade with his left foot. "_No,_" he growled. "This is _MINE_ now."

As Arya began to climb to her feet, Rorge's right arm shot out, and he wrapped his hand around her throat, raising her into the air before him.

Staring into her eyes, Rorge spoke to Arya again. "_Normally,_" he began, Arya hearing nothing but sheer, blistering hate in his voice, "_I'd take you back to Saltpans, torture you in more ways than one, then feed you to our hunting dogs. But for you, I'll make an exception since I feel like entertaining myself today._"

"_What?_" Arya said as a thin line of blood dripped from the left end of her mouth.

"_Can you swim?_"

"_N-no, I don't think–_"

"_GOOD LUCK, THEN!_" Rorge screamed, tightening his grip around Arya's throat before hurling her over the property line and into the river.

After landing in the water, Arya struggled to get to the surface, almost running out of air in the process. After her head breached the surface of the river, she swiveled around and looked back towards the house. She could only helplessly watch as the house became more distant and as the sounds of battle raged from the Heddles' property. All the while, Arya struggled to stay above the water. Just as the house was about to disappear behind some trees, a strong, loud current brought her beneath the water again.


	10. Puncture (2016)

**NOTE:** I am sorry this took so long. I have been caught up with other things, and I will make sure it doesn't take four months for another update ever again. On a lighter note, this story is now two thirds done. This story was originally fourteen chapters. However, I realized that the next chapter after this one could be split into two, so there is now fifteen chapters to this story. Without further ado, here is chapter ten.

* * *

**Chapter Ten:**

**Puncture (2016)**

* * *

Being thrashed around in the water, Arya thought she was going to die. She was being swept downstream, heading south for who knew how long. All the while, Arya desperately tried to keep her head above the water. However, after being hit in the head so many times by Rorge, her disoriented state caused her to not be able to stay above the water. This coupled with the powerful currents of the river, Arya didn't see much hope of staying out of the water for very long, if at all.

Arya didn't know how much time was passing. It could have been seconds, minutes, even half an hour. All she knew is that she likely didn't have much time left. Currently underwater, Arya desperately thrashed to get to the surface and made one final hard push to get some air. As she moved upwards, she was yanked down by another powerful current.

_I'm dead,_ Arya thought as she suddenly swallowed a sizable amount of water. She began to thrash around and panic, desperate for air as she took on more water. In some desperate bid to live to see another day, she weakly jerked her right arm upward towards the surface. Still dizzy, she thought she was seeing things when a figure appeared at the side of the river, hurrying over to her.

Arya felt as if she were about to pass out and drown as what looked like something entered the water and neared her arm. She felt something latch on to her forearm. Arya felt surprised as ever as she was suddenly yanked from the water and dragged out on to dry land.

Arya, when she realized she had been saved, rolled over onto all fours, coughing and gagging loudly. She spent the next few minutes coughing violently and vomiting up all of the water she'd swallowed while in the river. She was completely soaked and still bleeding in places from her fight with Rorge, but she was otherwise fine. She had a pounding headache in her skull. Only when she was taking deep, greedy gasps for air did she look over to see who had saved her life. Her eyes widened. It was Jaqen.

"_J…Jaqen…?_" Arya said weakly, eyeing him.

"A man has saved a girl's life," Jaqen replied. It was then that Arya noticed Jaqen was covered head to toe in wight blood and guts. _There must be a lot of them nearby,_ Arya theorized.

"Jaqen, are there wights nearby?" Arya asked.

"A girl is correct, and she must follow a man."

Arya, despite being soaking wet and slightly disoriented, got up and followed Jaqen into the woods. They walked for a while, and Arya began to wonder where he was taking her. After a while, Jaqen held his arm out to silently tell her to stop walking for a moment. As Arya stopped, she watched as a sole wight staggered by. Jaqen closed in on it from behind and rammed a knife into the back of its head. The wight dropped dead, and Jaqen flipped it over, cutting the front of its torso open.

"A girl needs to approach and apply the insides of the dead to her person," Jaqen explained. "A girl must also refer to a man as 'Alchemist' when she and him arrive to their destination."

"Why, though?" Arya asked as she smeared the wight's intestines and chopped up organs across her body.

Jaqen paused for a moment. "A man does not use his true name within his group, and neither do a man's companions. A man's companions are without proper names, and a man will do the talking."

By that point, Arya had covered herself, and Jaqen got back up. Arya followed him into the woods.

* * *

After a short while, Arya and Jaqen came upon a group of people. All of them were covered in wight remains like Jaqen and Arya, and few seemed to notice their arrival. Many of them were either repairing weapons, skinning animals, and doing other work. However, Arya happened to notice three people watching them. The first to approach was a woman around Arya's height with a gown and combat boots spattered with gore. She gripped a knife in either hand, and she looked angry. To Arya, the shape of this individual's face reminded her of Weasel a little.

"Alchemist, who have you brought with you?" she asked.

"A man has saved a girl's life by pulling her from the river as she began to drown," Jaqen explained. As he spoke, two others, one with squinting, focused eyes and the other with a bald head, cuts around his face, and a gaunt look about him. "A man has brought a girl here to join a man's companions."

The woman, who was up front, glowered at Arya before looking back at Jaqen. "You know our protocol, Alchemist," she said. "Take this one to the Kindly Man. He'll sort her out."

As Jaqen walked Arya towards the end of the camp, he told her what everyone there was called. A few moments earlier, Arya had encountered the Waif, Squinter, and Plague Face. Also present at the camp were the Fat Fellow, the Lordling, the Handsome Man, the Starved Man, and Stern Face. Lastly, Arya realized who the Kindly Man was when she saw a tall man wearing gore-spattered robes. The man in question had the gentle, warm face of an older man, like someone's kind grandfather.

"Alchemist, you've gotten a new member for the Faceless Men?" asked the Kindly Man.

Jaqen nodded. "A man has."

"Leave me with her."

Jaqen left, and Arya approached the Kindly Man.

"You are the Kindly Man, correct?" Arya asked, looking up at him. "I'm Arya Stark."

He shook his head disapprovingly. "No, not with us. The Faceless Men do not use their true names. I don't, and neither will you. If you wish to be part of our group, you will be referred to as 'No One' until an alias is issued to you. Do you understand?"

She paused to think for a moment. "I understand," No One answered.

"Very well," the Kindly Man replied. "You will begin hunting duties tomorrow."

* * *

That night, No One shared dinner with the others. Sitting next to the Alchemist, No One had something on her mind. Since they were really nowhere near anyone else, she figured it was safe to ask him. "Alchemist?"

He glanced down at her as she kept talking. "This is temporary, right? You'll send me on my way after a while to head back to–"

He raised three fingers of his right hand. "A man has done three favors for a girl," he explained. "Therefore, a girl must do three favors for a man."

After dinner, Arya tried to get some sleep. As she tried to doze off, she thought of Jaqen's words. She would have to do three things for Jaqen before he could help her again. She also thought of the group she'd left behind back in Crossroads. She wondered if any of them were still alive, and she wanted to see them again. Arya fell asleep as she thought of all of them, smelling gore all over the camp.

* * *

"_WAKE UP!_"

The first thing No One felt as she woke up was one of the Waif's boots stamping into her gut. No One coughed and rolled over, climbing to her feet after a few moments.

"Yes?" No One said, looking into the Waif's eyes.

"The Kindly Man has called a meeting."

The Waif turned to walk away, and No One followed her. No One supposed the Waif didn't like her very much, if at all. Regardless of what petty reason the Waif had, No One figured she would try to not provoke her as much as she could. She looked ahead, beyond the Waif, and saw that the whole group was gathering around the Kindly Man. The Waif and No One were among the last to arrive. Shortly after, the meeting began.

"Faceless Men," the Kindly Man began, "this brief meeting as partly been called to introduce No One, a new member of our order. A name has not been provided to her, but it shall in due time."

As the Kindly Man spoke, everyone looked over at No One. No One tried to ignore them, instead opting to focus on the Kindly Man and what he was saying instead. The Kindly Man continued. "No One will receive her new name as time goes on. However, for the time being, we must return to our duties and continue to gather food and supplies. Two hunting parties will gather food. One will consist of No One, Alchemist, Plague Face, and the Waif. The other will consist of Stern Face, Squinter, the Lordling, and the Fat Fellow. Everyone else is relegated to weapon cleaning and weapon crafting. You all have your duties."

The group dispersed then.

* * *

In the woods, No One was the first of her hunting party to notice the three wights shambling through the woods. Because they were all covered in gore, the wights did not notice them, even when the Alchemist and No One approached first to drive their knives into the backs of their skulls. The Waif dispatched the third, and Plague Face approached as the corpses were cut open so the four could cover themselves in fresh gore. No One noticed as the others covered themselves quickly to mask themselves faster, so she did the same.

Alchemist seemed to notice. However, he spoke of something else after the Waif and Plague Face walked away from them. "A girl can cover her first favor today," he explained. "A girl can do most of the hunting. A man will do his own work, but a girl can assist us the most."

No One understood. She planned on using the element of surprise rather than charging at an animal they would eat later on. No One and Alchemist followed after the Waif and Plague Face.

"Took you long enough," the Waif said, sounding annoyed about the four of them not going in unison. No One and Alchemist said nothing. No One figured this was a good idea; she figured that the Waif was someone who she didn't want to get angry. _Then again,_ she thought, _I think most in the Kindly Man's group would kill someone if they became too angry.  
_  
After a while, the Waif and Plague Face turned to face No One and Alchemist. The Waif spoke. "Plague Face and I will go off on our own. We'll meet back at the Kindly Man's camp around nightfall. We can spread out and find more food this way."

Plague Face glanced down at her. "Do you have anything else you'd like to add?"

The Waif responded, glaring up at Plague Face while sounding irritated. "No. My statements are easily understandable."

After a few more words, each of the two small pairs parted ways. The Waif and Plague Face went one way deeper into the woods, and No One and Alchemist went the other. As No One turned to walk with Alchemist, she got a glance at the knife in the Waif's hand. It seemed to be shaking due to the Waif's hand shaking with rage.

No One and Alchemist walked for a long while before Alchemist held an arm out to stop No One. He pointed forward. "There."

No One looked. Standing before them both was a big buck which had just poked its head out from behind a cluster of large trees.

"Observe." Alchemist said, pulling a throwing knife from his side. No One watched as Alchemist took aim, then threw. It landed right in the buck's neck. Blood spurted out as it began running, and the two who had spotted it gave chase. After a few minutes of running, the buck slipped and fell, landing on its side and pressing the knife deeper into itself as soon as it hit the ground. No One and Alchemist reached the fallen buck, the latter pulling out a second knife in the process.

"A girl should go and hunt as I take meat from our fallen buck," Alchemist said to No One as he drove the knife into the buck's neck, right where the base of the skull met with its spine. "Gathering more than a man would assist with the repayment of a girl's debt to a man and her agreement with his."

No One, understanding, turned to leave and regroup with him, the Waif, and Plague Face later on.

* * *

It was night when No One returned to the Faceless Men's camp with her sack of hunted animals, which consisted of six rabbits and slabs of meat cut from a deer. She took a look around. Everyone except the Lordling were there. However, he reappeared from the woods after a short while, carrying his own sack of hunted animals. Arya approached the large bonfire the group had made and quickly located the Fat Fellow, who was the cook of the Faceless Men.

"Dump them all here," he said. No One spilled the contents of her sack in front of him, and he got to work with preparing the food. No One observed him work for a moment, and almost at once, Arya's thoughts flickered to Hot Pie. _I need to get out of here and see if everyone else is alive–_

No One's train of thought was pushed off to the side as the Lordling approached to drop off his own supply of hunted animals.

The group ate in silence save for the sounds of chewing and swallowing. After the meal was done, the Kindly Man called a meeting of the group. He stood aside the bonfire, and his subordinates were half-wreathed in darkness further away.

"I call No One to stand before me," the Kindly Man spoke. No One approached, and she stopped when she was a yard away from the Kindly Man. The Kindly Man spoke to her again, saying, "From here on, you will no longer be named No One. You are now to be called 'Canal'."

Now it was official; Canal was one of them.

That night, Canal went to bed, her thoughts pulled back to the Fat Fellow. Again, Arya thought that the fat cook among the Faceless Men reminded her of Hot Pie. Right as she began to drift off to sleep, she thought of her group and whether they were still alive. _Willow might be dead,_ Arya thought, beginning to drift off, _but I don't know about Lommy or…_

She fell asleep before finishing the sentence in her mind.

* * *

_Arya found herself, in the middle of the day, finding the house again. However, it didn't look like before. It looked burned out, smoke billowing from the various windows. Concerned, Arya hurried, shouting for someone, anyone, regardless if any wights in the area would be attracted by the noise._

_"Willow! Hot Pie!"_

_No answer._

_"Jeyne! Lommy!"_

_No answer._

_"WEASEL?!"_

_Still, no one answered._

_Arya slowed her run to a walk when she got close to the front door. It creaked, and someone on the other side opened. It was Lommy, only it wasn't. His throat had been torn open, but he was alive somehow. He grinned when he saw her. "Hi, Arya."_

_Arya didn't know how he could still speak. When he did, blood spilled out of his mouth. She responded. "Lommy, what happened? Where is everyone?"_

_Lommy didn't answer. Instead, he stepped out of the house, followed by Jeyne. She looked even worse. Her body, head to toe, was covered in places where flesh had been ripped out, likely by bites. Her abdomen and bottom half of her torso had been split open, and her intestines were spilling out. They left a blood trail coming from inside the house as they dragged across the floor and grass._

_"You weren't there…" said Jeyne, somehow still able to speak. "You could've been the difference…"_

_"What happened?!" Arya shouted, concerned._

_Lommy and Jeyne didn't say anything. Instead, they led her inside. The smoke began to clear as Arya stepped into the house, and Lommy and Jeyne parted ways to let Arya walk forward to see what they wanted to show her._

_They were all dead._

_Hot Pie, Willow, and Nymeria were lying dead in a pile. All of them were in various stages of decay. Arya's eyes widened as she looked over her dead friends. _

_She took a few steps to the side to get another angle, and she began to sob as she saw a smaller, younger form in the back of the pile._

_"No…" Arya cried, trying not to break down and fall to the floor._

_"Rorge and them killed us all…" Lommy growled. "You could've been there. You could've saved us…"_

_"Now we're dead…" Jeyne hissed. "And now you'll join us…"_

_Arya looked over to Lommy and Jeyne and saw that they each now had the blue eyes of the wights. Growling, they charged for her. Arya screamed as Jeyne took a bite out of her left shoulder and as Lommy clawed at her eyes._

* * *

Then she woke up with a gasp. It took Arya a little to realize what'd been going on.

A dream.

It had only been a dream.

Canal had no time to sit and ponder this. She noticed that the Faceless Men were beginning to gather for another meeting. Quickly scrambling to her feet, Canal hurried over to everyone else. When everyone was gathered, the Kindly Man began his announcements for the day.

* * *

It was decided that Canal was to go hunting with Alchemist and the Waif. As they made their way into the woods, they had found a few wights and had killed them to slather themselves in additional gore. They smelled worse than before, but Canal didn't mind. As soon as she finished slathering her face in the gore, she looked and saw more wights appearing.

"We've got company," she announced. Alchemist and the Waif looked over and saw more wights begin to emerge from the woods. Three became ten, then ten became sixteen. It looked to Canal that a swarm of wights were in the area. Based on where they were going, they were headed in the direction of the Faceless Men's camp.

"It seems something needs to be done," Alchemist spoke.

Canal nodded. "Yes, that's right."

"_Idiots!_" the Waif snapped. "_It means nothing!_ The Faceless Men have no home. If this encampment is destroyed, we'll find someplace else. We can scavenge for more food–"

Some of the wights had turned their heads in the Waif's direction when she shouted at the others. Canal realized that besides the loud sounds, the swarm of wights couldn't detect them due to the fresh gore covering their bodies. Wanting to make sure the Faceless Men's supplies were kept undisturbed, Canal then got an idea. She ran over to the wights, cupped her hands on either side of her mouth, and started yelling.

"_HEY! OVER HERE! HEY! HERE!_"

Alchemist and the Waif watched for a moment, confused. It then seemed to dawn on the both of them that Canal was intending to play bait in order to lead the wights away from the camp. Canal began to run around as she continued to scream loudly and make a variety of weird noises. All the while, Alchemist watched from the side, a proud look on his face. The Waif looked like she wanted to stab someone.

Regardless, Canal began to realize that her plan was working as she continued to scream at the wights, clap her hands, make as much noise as possible to draw them away from the camp. And it seemed to be working; most of the wights were beginning to notice and follow Canal. Canal continued to cheer, clap, scream, and yell, and the wights continued following her. In the distance, she noticed that some of the wights near the back of the crowd were beginning to notice the others moving away from their original route and followed them.

_Just need to get them far away,_ Canal thought. _Then I'll go back to the others._

_Go back to the oth–_

Canal shut the thought out of her mind before it could be finished.

* * *

The group of three wound up collecting ten animals for food after the situation with the wights was settled. They ate with the rest and went to bed. Canal awoke to the feeling of someone shaking her awake. Canal blinked a few times, and she saw the Waif staring down at her.

"Yes?" Canal said quietly to avoid waking up anyone.

"Follow," the Waif replied, grabbing Canal by the left wrist and forcefully yanking her upwards. Canal, in her tired state, tried to hurry along as the Waif practically dragged her by the wrist to the tree line away from the camp. When they were almost in the woods, the Waif spoke.

"I don't know what you're trying to accomplish, but if you think you're going to truly commit to our order, you are mistaken."

Canal looked her over for a moment incredulously before speaking again. "What do you mean? I've done nothing wrong–"

The Waif slapped her. Canal recoiled, and before she could say anything, the Waif spoke again. "I could tell from the moment you stepped into our camp. You do not care about us. You do not care about our practices. You do not care about our way of living. Despite what Alchemist and the Kindly Man might say, you will never be part of us, and I may have to make sure you understand that very well."

Canal glared at her in annoyance. "_Don't threaten me._ I'm just as much a member of this group as you are."

The Waif's eyes narrowed. "You'd best sleep with one eye open if you cross me. And if you even anticipate leaving us for a moment to go back to wherever you came from, I will not hesitate to cut your throat."

"And you wouldn't return to your own? Like you have no attachment to your life before?"

"I was born when the dead rose."

Arya briefly did the math in her head. There was no way the Waif was around the age of someone like Weasel. "I don't believe y–"

Before she could finish, the Waif grabbed her by the front of her shirt and shoved her back towards the Faceless Men's camp. "_Go,_" she ordered.

Getting the message, Canal turned to leave, and she looked back only once. The Waif was still standing by the tree line, glaring at her. They locked eyes for a brief moment. The Waif, with sheer rage in her eyes, made a slow slicing motion across her throat with her right index finger.

* * *

The following morning, Canal sat with the other Faceless Men at breakfast and shared food with them. She sat in a square shape with the Starved Man, Squinter, and Plague Face. She expected any of them to speak, but none did. After eating, Canal decided to walk around and explore the camp. Not a whole lot of people there were much for talking, so she decided to explore instead.

Very quickly, she found the Handsome Man and the Lordling beginning to gather supplies from the camp and stuff them into large backpacks. Curious, Canal approached. "What are you doing?"

The Handsome Man looked over to her. "Packing. We're going to make a new encampment elsewhere. We do this every three weeks."

_Nomads,_ Arya realized. _Joining them in their trek will result in me being separated from the others, if they're still alive._

Canal walked away from them, and she soon found herself in the company of the Kindly Man. The two struck up a brief discussion as they walked away from the group. Canal recalled the Waif and thought back to her threatening behavior from the night before. Canal figured that the Kindly Man would know something about her, so she decided to ask.

"Could you tell me about the Waif?" Canal asked.

"What would you like to know about her?" the Kindly Man replied.

"Recently, she told me that she was 'born when the dead rose'. Is she serious? I thought she looked too old to be a young child–"

The Kindly Man chuckled. "She did not lie. We were all born when the dead rose. The blood of the dead which covers our faces and bodies shows that we have become one with the dead; all of the lives we could have lived, all of what we have been or ever will be, has been given to the dead. Death is a gift, and it must be respected. Several members of our order have been bitten and left to turn. Some may say these events were tragic mishaps, but we know the truth."

Canal inwardly frowned. She would in no way be getting answers about the Waif and where she came from like this. So she decided to ask again, but word a few things differently. "How did your organization form?"

The Kindly Man paused. At first, Canal thought he would give her a cryptic answer, but instead, he explained a few things to her about the Faceless Men.

"Out of all of us, I found her first. In truth, she is thirty-six years old. I was up north, and I found her staggering around the streets of the city I was in. We stayed together for a while, and we decided to work together, also abandoning our old names from the old times so we could embrace a new life in the new times, the times of the living dead. At one time, all of us were No One. As I say, _'Faceless'_."

Canal found this interesting. It explained where the Faceless Men had come from, but it did not explain the Waif's mentality of "with us or against us". She decided to ask more.

"Where does she stand in the group?"

"The Waif, alongside Alchemist, are both second to me."

The memory of the threats from the previous night flooded back to Canal. She asked something else.

"Has she ever had problems with anyone else in the group?"

The Kindly Man paused, stopped walking, and pointed to Plague Face as he skinned a rabbit while the Fat Fellow watched closely. Canal looked to where he was pointing, and the Kindly Man spoke again. "Do you see his weeping sores?"

"Yes."

"He didn't have those before he joined our order."

"What did she do?"

"Canal, it is best not to pry about her further."

"I understand."

Canal said nothing else about the Waif and parted ways with the Kindly Man.

* * *

Later in the day, Canal was by the river alongside Alchemist, the Waif, and Plague Face. They had been sent down there by the Kindly Man, and each had a fishing spear and a bucket to store the fish they caught. Nearby was a wheelbarrow to dump all of the caught fish they had when the buckets got full. Back at the encampment of the Faceless Men, those who weren't hunting were busy gathering up the rest of the camp to begin migrating to someplace else the next day.

A while off, the Waif and Plague Face were busy with spearing as many fish as they could. Where Canal and Alchemist were located, it was much more difficult; fish were scarce in their part of the river, and Alchemist seemed to be missing many of the fish he was trying to spear.

On the other hand, Canal knew she would do a better job if she weren't thinking of something else. Arya could not stop thinking about her friends. The act of using the spears to fish reminded her of how she would do the same thing with Lommy, Weasel, and Hot Pie. She had to hold back tears when she thought of them so Alchemist would not see. Even if they had held off the Brave Companions, it was likely that Rorge would get more people and come back. She figured that at least Willow and maybe Nymeria were dead. She hoped Weasel was okay.

Then she noticed something in the river: a fish. Canal impaled it with her spear, dropped it into the bucket, and focused back on the river, still trying to hide her tears. She noticed how Alchemist missed spearing a fish, and Canal was quick to act, impaling the fish he missed and dropping it into her own bucket. Alchemist seemed to notice this.

For the next hour, every time Alchemist missed a fish, Canal speared it for him. In total, Canal caught ten of Alchemist's missed fish. Including these, Canal had caught twenty-six. As they worked during this time, Canal got a few glances at the Waif and Plague Face. They seemed to be having a much easier time with this than them.

Every time they filled a bucket, they had to move over to the wheelbarrow to fill it with their catches. In total, the entire group of four had caught seventy-two fish. As they began their trek back to the encampment, the four remained silent. Canal hoped that no wights would be attracted to them because of the fresh fish, but none did. They took their food to the Fat Fellow, who began to prepare it.

Before going to sleep for the night, Alchemist took Canal off to the side. Quickly and covertly, he whispered something into her ear.

"_A girl's three debts to a man have been paid._"

* * *

The next day, the group left to go somewhere else. In the morning, the Kindly Man announced that they would be following the river southward, and Arya inwardly frowned. She wanted to leave and find her original group before she wound up over the hills and far away. She was not carrying anything, and the Kindly Man led the way for the others.

They walked for a few hours, only pausing to take a break every now and then. Eventually, they came upon a hill adjacent to the river. While walking, Canal looked over at the others around her. Aside from the sounds of people walking and wheelbarrows being carted, there was no noise that came from their group. Canal was near the front of the group, and ahead of her were the Kindly Man and Alchemist. She did not see the Waif anywhere, which concerned her.

_If I don't get away from here, she's going to kill me,_ she realized. The Waif had made far too many threatening gestures directed at Canal, and the latter wanted nothing to do with whatever the Waif had planned. Canal tried to dwell on other things, but she could not get the memory of the Waif's act of making a slicing motion across her throat.

As they climbed the hill, Canal kept a close watch on her surroundings. She kept a close eye on what was on her sides and in front of her, but not what was behind her. This proved to be bad for Arya when she felt someone grab her in a tight headlock.

Immediately, Arya pried at her attacker's grip, jerking around wildly, then fell backwards as she felt something sharp graze her right cheek. She let out a yelp and fell down the hill, landing in the riverbank at the bottom of the hill. Arya quickly staggered to her feet and turned around to see her attacker: the Waif. She had a large knife in hand, and she was charging right towards her.

"_DIE!_" the Waif screamed, driving the knife towards Arya. Arya reacted by snapping into action by grabbing her arm with the knife, pushing it back as much as possible. In retaliation, the Waif kicked one of Arya's legs, causing the latter to crumple to the ground. Upon making contact with the muddy riverbank, the Waif's knife drove a little into Arya's chest, not far enough to puncture any organs, but enough to make her bleed. Arya pulled back as much as possible, trying to wrestle the Waif off of herself. In her peripheral vision, Arya could see something much larger than a fish moving around in the river water close to the riverbank. And then there were several more somethings as Arya saw a few of the Faceless Men begin to break away from the group to come to the bottom of the hill to see what was going on, Jaqen included.

Using one hand to keep the knife away from herself, Arya used the other to claw at the Waif's face. Arya jammed her fingers into her eyes, her thumb into her mouth, and smashing her nose shut. Arya began to climb to her feet as the Waif growled, biting down on Arya's thumb. Arya jerked back just as the Waif swung the knife in a wide arc to try and slash her throat open, but she missed by a few inches.

Jaqen was the first to reach. "A woman must stop!" Jaqen demanded of the Waif. "A girl is an ally not to be discarded like–"

The Waif, a look in her eyes similar to the look Rorge had given Arya a few days before, screamed in sheer, inhuman rage and charged at Jaqen, tackling him and driving the knife upwards. Before she could swing downward, Arya ran, grabbed the Waif's arm by wrapping herself around it, and yanked backwards with as much strength as she could muster. The Waif growled, grunted, and jerked around wildly as this happened, and it wound up with Arya on her stomach facing the river, noticing the things emerging from the river: four rotted wights. It appeared that somewhere along the way, they had gotten stuck in the river and were now pulling themselves loose as they got close to the land.

The Waif, growling, wrapped Arya in a tight headlock with her right arm. In the scuffle, she had dropped her knife, but now she had it again. And she used it to drive directly into Arya's left eye. There was a burst of white light in that eye, then blackness. The pain was excruciating, and Arya had never screamed as loud as she did then than ever before. The Waif said nothing. Instead, she twisted the knife and violently ripped it out of Arya's ruined eye.

Arya, continuing to scream loudly, drew the attention of the river wights towards them, who began to head over to the source of the noise. The Waif, evidently noticing this, slammed Arya's face into the mud in an attempt to shut her up. Arya swiveled to her right just before the Waif drove her knife downwards again. She had been aiming at the back of Arya's head, but it wound up getting stuck in the mud instead.

Arya, though heavily wounded, climbed to her feet and observed the Waif and the approaching four wights, who were getting close to the land. Arya decided to use this to her advantage and charged at the Waif as the rest of the Faceless Men made it to the bottom of the hill. Arya made contact, and the Waif grunted as she was knocked into the river, hitting the four wights.

"_GET OFF!_" the Waif screamed as they grabbed her, stabbing one in the head and killing it as another bit deep into her shoulder. Before she could stab another, another grabbed her arm and bit into it. The Waif dropped the knife and thrashed around violently. Arya and the others watched as all three wights and the Waif fell backwards into the river and were soon swept away beneath the water in its strong currents.

All were silent for a moment before Arya felt a firm hand on her shoulder. She turned around and saw Jaqen standing there.

"A man will return after he has dealt with a girl."

Jaqen ushered Arya up the hill. No one followed them. Arya felt dread at what could be coming.

* * *

Arya and Jaqen walked for a long while. Arya's ruined left eye still bled (though not as much as before), and it had a painful throb every second. It didn't hurt as badly as in the beginning, but it was still horrible. Neither Arya nor Jaqen said any words until they found a dead wight. Jaqen stopped and began to drive his knife into the body.

"What are you doing?" Arya asked.

"A man must make it look like he has killed a girl," Jaqen explained.

_He's letting me go?_

After Jaqen was done, they walked for a bit until they emerged from the woods and came upon a town. Arya thought it was familiar, but she soon recognized it: Harroway. _At least I'm close to Crossroads,_ she thought. _I can make it back now._

"A girl had three debts to a man," Jaqen began to explain, "and a girl has paid her debts to a man. And now a man must pay his debt to a girl."

Arya was confused. "What have I done for you?"

"A girl has saved a man's life, and now a man has allowed a girl to leave the Faceless Men. All of a girl's debts have been paid, and so has a man's own sole debt."

"Alright…" Arya said, waving to Jaqen. "Goodbye, Jaqen."

Arya walked forward into Harroway. It was almost dusk. Arya looked back to see if Jaqen was still there, but he was gone. She figured she would never see him again, and she seemed oddly fine with it. Now aside from getting back to her group, Arya had another concern to take care of: her eye. It was still bleeding, and Arya knew she needed to find something to patch it up, or else it was like to get infected.

She figured that Harroway had to have a pharmacy somewhere. Her group had spent so much time searching through the neighborhoods for food and other supplies that they hadn't thought to check deeper in town. Now realizing that this would be her chance, Arya began to break out in a light sprint to head into town before it really started to get dark out. She recalled the wights which had been through the town, but she hoped that after a year, their large numbers had dwindled.

She came upon a gas station and, nearby it, she saw a pharmacy. Relieved, Arya began to hurry over, but had to slow her pace when she saw a few wights nearby. What wound up happening was that Arya had to hide behind a few cars to get to where she needed to go so the wights wouldn't see her (though she figured that the blood and dried gore covering her would help), but she still made it to the pharmacy.

Heading in through one of the broken glass doors of the pharmacy, Arya expected the building to be completely ransacked, but to her surprise, there were still some things left on shelves. There were two wights in the building, so Arya did the same inside the pharmacy like what she'd done outside with the cars, instead using the shelves to hide herself. There were six aisles in the pharmacy, and she found next to nothing useful because most of them had been stripped bare. She found some unused washcloths in a bag, which she hastily opened and pressed to her face, intending to clean her eye. She figured that it wouldn't help much, but it would have to do.

Going through the other aisles, she found nothing that could be of use to her. However, on her last go around, she found something that had been mostly untouched: a box containing black eyepatches. Arya, realizing she would need to use an eyepatch from now on, ripped the box open and placed the black eyepatch over what was remained of her left eye.

Getting up to leave the pharmacy, Arya was noticed by one of the two wights. It growled, then gave chase. Arya hurried out of the pharmacy, quickly making her way though the glass door. The wight, however, was not cautious like her and wound up with various spots on its rotting skin being shredded by the glass. It face planted on the ground. Arya hurried away, trying to recall where the road to Crossroads was located.

* * *

As night began to roll in, Arya found the road where a year before, Lommy's leg had been severed to save his life after a bite. Arya actually found the skeletal remains of Lommy's leg, and it was in a few pieces after the tendons had rotted away. She figured that wights had done most of the work.

Arya, understanding the walk she'd have to make back to Crossroads, debated with herself about ducking into one of the nearby houses to sleep during the night. She had lost her machete to Rorge, and she was unarmed as night was creeping in. It didn't help that there were likely a lot of wights still in the area, and the fresh blood coming from her ruined eye would likely attract some to her. She figured that this was the case with the one wight back in the pharmacy.

Much to Arya's misfortune, three wights emerged from the adjacent woods as she walked to leave Harroway. One of them turned its half-skeletal head to face her, growling lowly. Arya felt her heart lurch into her throat. She began to hear the sound of a motorcycle off in the distance.

Arya, not sure if the wights would target her or not, slowly took a few steps back as she kept her eye trained on the wights. As the motorcycle and its rider got closer, Arya watched in horror as all of the wights, not just the one, began growling.

The motorcycle was incredibly close now. The wights growled loudly and charged at Arya. Before Arya could turn to run, the closest wight, the first which had spotted her, was shot dead, the top half of its head exploding before it made contact with the asphalt. The other two were gunned down in quick succession just as the motorcycle was turned off.

Arya looked off to the side to see who had saved her life. At first, she suspected that it was a Brotherhood Without Banners member atop the large, black motorcycle, but it turned out to be a man she had never seen before.

He was the tallest man Arya had ever seen. He was muscular, and by far his most notable feature aside from his height was that the left side of his face was severely burned, the severe scars extending down to his throat. Surprisingly, his left eye had not been harmed by what had happened to him.

The man with the burned face spat on the asphalt before he spoke. "What are you looking at?"


	11. Hostage (2016)

**cpmarzo:** Thanks for the feedback. This chapter is Sandor's second appearance in terms of appearances in chapters in this story, and it's nowhere near his last.

* * *

**NOTE:** This chapter is shorter because, like I said, this was originally going to be a larger chapter but was split into two. I will also try and keep a more disciplined schedule with this story, so I am going to try and get out two a month until it's done (give or take a few days; the next chapter will be kind of long). It should also be noted that my notes for this story, aside from the ones in my mind, run out with this chapter. Therefore, I am headed into partially uncharted territory in the coming chapters.

* * *

**Chapter Eleven:**

**Hostage (2016)**

* * *

Arya had never been on a motorcycle before, but she currently found herself sitting behind Sandor Clegane on his motorcycle. It was dusk at that point and, a short while earlier, Arya had asked him why he wanted to take her with him. His response was curt and to-the-point.

"Ransom," he explained. "You know about the Brotherhood Without Banners?"

"Yes," Arya answered, still feeling a painful stinging ache where her left eye once was. She had a concern of it being untreated firing through her mind for a moment, but that train of thought was cut off when Sandor answered her.

"I'm running low on supplies, and I know they have a lot of it," he explained. "If I threaten your life in front of them, they'll be willing to give things away."  
Arya's eye narrowed. "How do you know that's true?"

"It's worked before," Sandor answered as he neared a small building just outside of Harroway. "I just need to find the lot of them first." He pulled his motorcycle over and killed the engine soon after. Sandor dismounted and grabbed Arya, pulling her off of it. Arya, understanding what was going on, jumped off the motorcycle and followed him inside.

Inside the building, there was a lantern which Sandor had lit in the middle of the room. Sandor pulled several pieces of large furniture in front of the front door to blockade it from whatever dangers could have been lurking outside. Looking around in the dimply-lit room, Arya noticed that several of the windows were boarded over. _Is he a vagabond?_ Arya theorized. _Then again, Gendry and Hot Pie and me and the others were all vagabonds…_ She felt sad again when she thought of her friends.

Arya noticed a large metal beam coming from the floor and going into the ceiling. She sat down in front of it. Sitting up against the support beam, Arya looked around the room, pausing to contemplate both her situation and the fact she was now blind in one eye. In a situation like the living dead, raiders, and murderers running around a post-apocalyptic land, Arya figured being blind in one eye was likely a death sentence.

_Maybe not,_ Arya thought. _Lommy's been doing okay with one leg–_

Arya's train of thought was cut off when she realized that Sandor was missing. Not a second later, Arya felt someone powerfully grab her from behind and begin to tie her hands and arms behind the support beam. Thrashing, Arya became alarmed and started shouting.

"_HEY! WHAT ARE YOU–_"

"_QUIET!_" Sandor shouted as he continued tying her to the support beam. "I'll let you go in the morning. For now, this is a precaution to prevent you from escaping."

When he was finished tying her to the support beam, he appeared from behind her and walked over to the lantern, still talking to her as he moved. "And if you try to escape, I'll cut out your other eye and pop it into your mouth."

Arya stayed quiet the whole time, and she happened to fixate on his burns as he moved around the room and spoke to her. She seemed oddly drawn to the sight of them.

"You want to look at my burns?" Sandor growled. "Fine, then, take a good, long stare. I know many would like to–"

"Where did they come from?" Arya asked.

For a moment, Sandor frowned and paused, as if Arya had made him dig up a painful memory. Finally, he spoke. "My brother."

Now Arya's curiosity was piqued. "Who's your brother? What did he do?"

Sandor's eyes narrowed hatefully. "You really want to know?"

"Yes."

Sandor looked at her like he wanted to rip something off of her. He paused for a moment, then finally spoke with a growl. "When I was about six, maybe seven, he pushed my face into a fire. Gregor, he was twelve, and it took three grown men to pull him off of me."

"Was he arrested?"

"No," Sandor spat. "Our father covered for him. He said my bed caught fire in the middle of the night."

Arya frowned. She couldn't imagine her own father doing that if say Robb hurt her badly for whatever reason. She replied to Sandor. "That's… terrible."

Sandor didn't say anything for a moment. "And?"

"I couldn't imagine my family doing anything like that to me."

"Are they still alive?"

"My mother and father aren't, and neither is my oldest brother. I don't know about the rest… Jon, Rickon, Bran, and Sansa could be out there somewhere."

"Sansa?"

"Yes?"

"As in Sansa _Stark?_"

Arya's eyebrows raised. She began to feel hopeful. "Yes, that's my older sister, do you know where she is?"

"Near the beginning, we were both in King's Landing." Arya recognized the name of the city. Sandor continued. "I saved her life. There was a riot going on, and the dead began to swarm us. I had to carve through a crowd of them with a chainsaw to get her out of there."

"What happened after?"

"We got separated. Sansa wound up running off with some fool named Hollard to get away from the city, and I wound up with the Brotherhood in the Riverlands."

That ended the conversation there. Nothing more needed to be said. Arya hoped that maybe Sansa was still out there somewhere, and it would make her happy to see her again, despite their sibling rivalry they had before the apocalypse started. The Stark siblings fought, they shared things with each other, they played together, and they ate together. And it took Arya losing all of them to realize how much she loved them. She wanted to tell Sandor that she hoped that they were still alive somewhere, but she knew that he would tell her to not count on it.

Slowly but surely, Arya fell asleep.

* * *

When she woke up, Sandor was untying her, and her destroyed left eye still hurt badly. The bleeding had stopped, though it still felt horrible. Arya figured it would begin to fester if nobody gave it treatment. She decided to put this thought aside as she mounted the back of Sandor's motorcycle and began to head to Crossroads with him, though she knew that it would still remain in the back of her mind. Sandor pulled into the small hamlet a short while later, stopped the motorcycle, drew his pistol, and handed Arya a knife. He also grabbed a large ax and put it in a sheath on his back.

"Hold onto this," Sandor instructed as he handed Arya the knife. "If we run into any of the dead, you'll need to protect yourself. I can't ransom a dead girl to the Brotherhood."

Dead girl.

Arya figured that in more ways than one, she had almost actually become a dead girl. She'd nearly been bitten, torn limb from limb, stabbed to death, drowned, and other things as well. Now there was a chance that Sandor would slit her throat if she stepped out of line, but his statement of not being able to ransom a dead girl made her realize that he would keep her alive.

They stopped inside of a small corner store that Arya had gone through with Willow and Lommy when they first started to live with the Heddles. A number of wights had come in while they were there, so they did not search everywhere and instead ran back to the house with what little they had gathered. They never went back, and it showed: Sandor and Arya found a number of food items back there as well as ammo to use for Sandor's pistol. Figuring that their search was successful, Sandor left the store, and Arya followed him out. A few wights were shambling around Sandor's motorcycle, and they were quickly put down by Sandor and Arya.

Getting back on the motorcycle, Sandor drove it down a road through the woods. As he spoke, Arya realized where they were heading. "We're going to look through some of the houses out here," he said. "The people who lived out here likely had enough supplies to last a long while."

The motorcycle continued down the winding road through the woods, and Arya' suspicions about where they were became confirmed as Sandor drove over some broken parts of crates, beyond two dead bodies, through a fenced gate, and into the large front yard of the property. When he shut the motorcycle off, Arya immediately jumped off and looked towards the nearest front window after running over to see them. Like when she'd left, it was shattered after Iggo had shot at Jeyne's head and missed.

They were at the house.

Pyg and Iggo's bodies were still in the yard, and there was a massive crater in the ground where La Diabla had gone off to kill the both of them. Ignoring Sandor, Arya hurried into the house and stumbled over the remains of the front door in the process, remembering Weasel in the basement. She hurried into the hallway, then the living room, then paused to get a look at the basement door, not stopping to pause to see if Willow was still on the floor in the front hallway.

It looked that the basement door had been smashed open. Beginning to panic, Arya nearly ran at full speed down the stairs, almost slipping and falling a few times, but she made it downstairs and turned the light on. Lommy's workshop had been damaged a little (likely in a scuffle of some sort), but there was no sign of Weasel anywhere.

"WEASEL?!" Arya screamed.

No answer.

She screamed again, louder this time. "_WEASEL?!_"

No answer. Her heart lurching into her throat, Arya hurried around to the back of the basement, and she saw a dried, large bloodstain on the ground with some droplets leading over to the underside of the stairs, where another bloodstain was present. There had been a fight, but Arya hoped that Weasel had gotten away and that the blood wasn't hers.

_She stabbed someone,_ Arya thought, trying to calm down. _She stabbed someone–whoever came down here–and ran away. She's… she's ali– WHERE IS EVERYONE ELSE–_

"_What are you doing?!_" Sandor demanded as he arrived in the basement, interrupting her train of thought. "_Don't run off from me!_"

Arya took a deep, shuddering breath before she explained. "The people I was with… we lived here. Someone I care deeply about was told by me to hide down here when the Brave Companions attacked us… and…"

"Brave Companions? Those men the Brotherhood are at war with?"

"Yes! That's exactly it!" Arya replied. "We killed a few of them, but I was thrown into the river by a man named Rorge."

"Figures," Sandor growled. "I found Alyn and Watty dead in the yard. Their heads were caved in, and those two other men, Iggo and Pyg, are rotting near that massive hole in the yard."

"You can thank my friend's bomb for that," Arya replied, still reeling from her discovery in the basement and trying to keep it together in front of Sandor.  
Sandor looked unamused. "How many of you were there?"

"Including my dog, seven," Arya answered. She followed up with, "Did… did you find bodies?"

"No, though this house is a sturdy one, and we haven't looked through all of it yet. We'll stay here for the night and leave to keep searching for the Brotherhood in the morning."

This made Arya feel a little better. She now theorized that everyone who was missing were taking to staying with the Brotherhood Without Banners until all of the Brave Companions business was dealt with. She hoped that this was the truth, but for the time being, Arya figured she should look through the house and see if anyone–corpses or living–was still there.

She left the basement and walked back upstairs. Deciding to see if Willow were dead in the hallway, she went over there. She saw the shattered window which Rorge had thrown her out of, but Willow was not there. Arya was relieved at first, but she didn't know if this meant that Willow was alive or dead and had been moved, perhaps dumped into the river. She hoped it was the first of the three options.

With Willow and Weasel out of the way, Arya hurried upstairs as Sandor looked through the kitchen. She recalled seeing Hot Pie and Jeyne approach the staircase after Rorge and Biter came in after the former broke the door down, and she figured that if any of her dead friends were still in the house, they would be up there. Slowly, she hurried up the stairs, but her heart was still pounding as if she were running. Reaching the top, she saw that the door had been forced open and, bracing herself, she went inside. No one was in there, but she saw that furniture was overturned, and blood had been spattered across the walls and part of the floor. There was a larger stain of blood on the floor, but Arya didn't know if it came from Biter or someone else.

Going back downstairs to find Sandor, Arya's curiosity had gone from "Is everyone still alive" to "Where is everyone?". She still supported her theory about them grouping up with the Brotherhood Without Banners, but she still had other hypothetical possibilities go through her mind. Did they all just give her up for dead and move on to somewhere else? Did they deem the area too dangerous and leave? Did Rorge leave, get more people, come back, and kidnap everyone to take them back to Saltpans? Though the last one was a possibility, Arya decided to deem it not a likely option because it was also likely that her companions would have fought back, and there would have been more destruction there than what she and Sandor had found.

Downstairs, she located Sandor searching through the kitchen. She spoke to him, saying, "Nobody upstairs. Therefore, the only bodies are in the yard."

"But there are still dead about Crossroads," Sandor replied, "and those Brave Companions might come back, I know they likely would."

"How would you know?" Arya didn't doubt him, but she wanted to be sure.

Sandor scowled. "I used to be one of the Brotherhood."

Arya's eye widened, and her eyebrows raised. "When?" As she asked this, she felt a sudden urge to scratch her left eye.

"After I left King's Landing. For a few years, we stayed in the Riverlands trying to stop men like those who are part of the Brave Companions or Harrenhal."

Now Arya was more curious than before. She remembered Jeyne mentioning Harrenhal when they first met. However, Arya hadn't picked her mind about it and now found an opportunity to do so with Sandor.

"What's Harrenhal?" she asked.

"A settlement south of here," Sandor answered. "It's a colony of sorts, made up of men that are from Casterly Rock and King's Landing."

Arya had heard of both of these cities, but Arya didn't know anything about the people there. Therefore, she decided to ask.

"Have you ever been there?"

"No, and I never will be," Sandor growled. "My brother's in charge there, and all of his pet rats, too."

Arya didn't know what Sandor meant by "pet rats", but she didn't want to press the issue further. Instead, she walked away from Sandor and went outside to inspect both the crater and the remains of Iggo and Pyg. Going outside, Arya took a few steps closer to their bodies. Iggo and Pyg were now rotting (Pyg moreso because he was in several pieces), and after Arya got an eyeful of those rotting heaps of flesh, she took a look at the crater which La Diabla had created when it went off. The hole was a lot more large than what Arya had expected, and she couldn't help but feel proud of Lommy upon seeing it.

Arya continued to observe the hole for a minute until she felt a presence behind her. Immediately knowing who it was, she turned and looked up at Sandor.  
"What are you doing out here?"

"I was admiring the hole and looking at the corpses."

"You don't need to look at the corpses! The corpses are only food for the dead and the crows now! They have nothing for you!"

"I don't care!"

"Get back inside! You're a hostage, and I've been too lenient with you!"

He grabbed her arm, and Arya twisted to try and break free.

Sandor tightened his grip. "_And if you try anything, I'm going to break both of your arms._"

_Wow,_ Arya thought as Sandor shoved her back into the house after dragging her over to where the front door used to be, _I'm a prisoner in my own home._

* * *

That night, Arya slept in her and Weasel's bedroom while Sandor slept on the couch in the living room. Not seeing Weasel there made her feel bad; she wanted her to be there, but she wasn't, and neither was Hot Pie nor Lommy nor Jeyne nor Willow nor Nymeria. Arya, feeling like she wound find her companions soon, hoped that she and Sandor would find them and the Brotherhood Without Banners soon.

* * *

The next day, Arya found a broken rearview mirror in the streets of Crossroads which had fallen off of an old, burned-out car. She noticed a yellowish-green splotch beginning to form near her left eye on the bottom from beneath her eyepatch. Rather, it started beneath the eyepatch and was now spreading out. Her suspicions had been confirmed: her left eye was getting infected.

Realizing that she was likely now on borrowed time if this condition advanced, Arya felt that her only hope was her and Sandor finding the Brotherhood Without Banners. Thoros was their healer, and if her theory about her companions was correct, Jeyne, another healer, would be with them as well.

Sandor had dismounted from the motorcycle to observe rising smoke in the distance with a pair of binoculars. "Yeah," he said after a moment, nodding his head. "That's them, they always have those fires."

Arya and Sandor were located near the exit of Crossroads. They had found a dirt road leading into the woods, and Sandor had figured that he and Arya would find the Brotherhood Without Banners there. Arya believed that this would be the case, and she hoped her theory was correct.

Sandor got back on the motorcycle and started it back up. When they started off towards the smoke, Arya felt an intense urge to scratch her infected eye, but she held back, trying to not lose her balance on the motorcycle. Still, the urge was strong, but she held back. She regretted not scratching when Sandor was using the binoculars a few moments earlier. Still, she thought she didn't want to scratch it in the end–pus and blood would likely get everywhere, and her eye would get worse. If Thoros and or Jeyne couldn't help her, then she thought she would die.

As they neared the smoke, Arya peered around Sandor as he slowed the motorcycle down and then stopped it. She saw the bright light of a fire, and she also saw some people moving around. She realized they were members of the Brotherhood Without Banners as he got off the motorcycle, grabbed her by the left forearm, and yanked her off of the back of the motorcycle.

"Now you follow my lead," he ordered. "I'm going to ransom you to them, so I need to threaten you."

Arya stepped out in front of Sandor he pulled out his pistol, fired a warning shot into the air to get their attention, then grabbed his ax and put it out in front of Arya as he put her in a headlock with his other arm after he put his gun away. "_HEY! ALL OF YOU THERE!_"

Two Brotherhood Without Banners members, who Arya recognized as Anguy and Luke, ran over. Some others drawn by the noise began to watch. Anguy, who was wielding a bow, immediately began to aim an arrow at Sandor. He was the first to speak. "Clegane! You let her go! Whatever you want, we can talk about this!"

Considering the type of people the Brotherhood Without Banners were and also the tone in Anguy's voice, Arya knew that nobody in the Brotherhood would want to give away any supplies, though she remembered what Sandor had said about hostages before and how using one had worked in his behavior. It was likely that the Brotherhood–or at least Anguy–was going to catch Sandor off guard somehow and then fire the arrow. Based on what Arya had heard from the Heddle sisters, Anguy was a phenomenal shot with a bow. Since Sandor used to run with them, Arya figured that what she knew, Sandor knew as well. Therefore, aside from essentially being used as bait, Arya had no idea what Sandor's plan was.

"_YOU GIVE ME WHAT I WANT, OR I KILL HER!_" Sandor shouted.

Arya decided to struggle to make it look real. She started to thrash around in Sandor's tight grip. Even if she was faking it, she knew it would be impossible to get away; Sandor was immensely powerful, and it made her think of his brother, Gregor. If Sandor was _this_ powerful while not even trying, she didn't want anything to do with Gregor at all. It reminded her of Rorge and his own strength.

Due to the commotion, more people were starting to crowd around Anguy and Luke. Arya saw them and recognized their faces: Harwin, Jack, Notch, Tom, and even Thoros were there. Some seemed to recognize her, evident by the looks on their faces. Arya had figured that the eyepatch would throw them off a little when it came to recognizing her, but it didn't.

"What do you want, Sandor?" Thoros asked.

"I'm in need of supplies, and I will cleave this girl's head off if you don't hand them over!"

Arya had no idea where this was going. She knew that Sandor wouldn't really kill her because he needed her for the ransom. Therefore, she figured that he would threaten her until he got what he wanted from the Brotherhood Without Banners like what was planned. _But what is he going to do?_ Anguy still kept his bow trained on Sandor, and Arya knew he wasn't messing around–if he wanted to, he would really shoot to kill. And then a familiar face broke through the crowd.

"Arya!"

Arya's eye widened as she saw a dirty and unkempt Hot Pie emerge from the group and waddle forward.

"Hot Pie!"

Sandor stopped and looked down at Arya. "You know him?"

"Yes!" she answered, now happy to see that her theory was correct. "He was one of the ones at the house with me!"

Sandor didn't let her go despite this new revelation. Finally, Beric stepped out of the crowd and aimed his rifle at Sandor. "_CLEGANE!_" he shouted in a loud voice Arya was sure that the wights would hear. "_DROP HER! WE'LL TALK!_"

Sandor growled, then released his grip on Arya. It was apparent to her that Beric and Sandor seemed to have history. Arya broke out into a full run. Hot Pie, grinning and chortling, hurried over. They reached one another and briefly hugged before letting each other go. Arya was thankful that the hug was short; she didn't want to be pressing up against Hot Pie's fat form for long.

"Come on," Hot Pie said, grabbing her by the right wrist to lead her along. "I need to take you to the others."

While Beric and other members of the Brotherhood Without Banners went to speak with Sandor, Hot Pie let go of Arya as he led her towards the back of the group, where she found Lommy, Jeyne, and Willow waiting for her. Arya began to feel dread when she did not see Weasel there among them, and Nymeria was nowhere in sight. Lommy, Jeyne, and Willow all approached, seemingly pleased to see her again.

Lommy was there first, and he clapped her on the back with one of his gloved hands. Jeyne gave her a brief hug, and when they moved away from her, Arya looked for the one other person whom she hadn't spoken to yet.

Willow approached and spoke with an authoritative tone. "Arya."

Arya turned to see Willow standing there before her. She noticed scarring around her forehead, and she understood that this came from when Rorge smashed her face into the wall. Regardless, Arya was pleased to see that she was well.

"Yes, Willow?"

"I took charge of the group when you were gone. Rorge and the remaining Brave Companions who came to the house, they ran out and drove away in their car. We tried looking for Nymeria, but we couldn't find her. We think she ran off into the woods somewhere. Tom and Jack came to the house when Watty and Alyn didn't come back. We didn't have time to bury them. We had to leave because we thought Rorge and his people would return. We're now planning an attack on Saltpans, and with you back, this will help us with an additional able-bodied person."

"What about Weasel?" Arya asked, now feeling concerned about her. "Is she alive? Is she here right now?"

Arya's heart sunk when Willow spoke again.

"They found her in the basement," Willow explained. "They took Weasel with them back to Saltpans."


	12. Raid on Saltpans (2016)

**Note:** This is the longest chapter yet at over 12k words.

* * *

**Chapter Twelve:**

**Raid on Saltpans (2016)**

* * *

Weasel, now in a state of constant terror, looked down at her dirty, grimy hands. She shifted a little, moving to a ball position. She was currently in a cell in Saltpans in what used to be a jail. There were four separate cells, and hers was one of the only two left. There had been others in the nearby cells, but every day, a new person had been taken out, dragged out by a few members of the Brave Companions, and had never been seen again. The first prisoner had been dragged out, and they were silent. The second tried to fight, but Weasel watched as they had some teeth knocked out before being dragged away.

The whole situation terrified her. After Biter had dragged her out of the basement of Jeyne and Willow's house, he and Rorge and Shagwell had taken her back to Saltpans. The whole drive there, Shagwell had a knife to her throat and loudly promised to kill her if she tried to escape. Weasel had tried to summon as much courage as she could when Biter found her in the basement. She had even stabbed him, but dropped the knife when Biter growled, grabbed Weasel by the front of her face, and slammed her against the bottom of the stairs hard enough to make her bleed by splitting open the back of her scalp a little.

In Saltpans, Weasel got a look around at the Brave Companions's compound. It was once part of a small town that they had converted into a miniature stronghold of sorts. It smelled of death, and Weasel was dragged by Shagwell to the jail as Biter and Rorge went to have their wounds tended to by the medic of the Brave Companions, a kindly-looking old man named Qyburn.

Weasel's wounds were not tended to, however. Instead, she had literally just been thrown into the cell, loudly threatened for several minutes, and then left in the darkness, a small window made of three iron bars in the back of the cell being her only source of light. And that was during the day. At night, she had no light at all and had to sleep on the floor. Her first day waking up in the cell, she awoke to shouting and someone begging for their life from outside. A cockroach had been scuttling around the floor, but it was the least of Weasel's worries. Instead, she listened to what was going on outside.

She was too short to see outside of the cell window without repeatedly jumping to see what was going on, so she just stood and listened. She didn't see what happened out there, but her mind filled in the details. She first heard louder screaming, followed by meaty noises, like someone was being hit or stabbed, followed by gurgling, followed by laughing accompanied by more hitting noises. A few minutes later, Weasel smelled flesh burning. She knew the smell, and it reminded her of when Lommy had used a Molotov cocktail in Fairmarket to burn several wights.

Food and water were finally delivered a number of minutes later. Each prisoner was provided food by a Dornishman named Timeon. Weasel looked down at her food and water when it was delivered. Her food consisted of three poorly-cooked strips of venison, and the water came in a styrofoam cup with some dirt in the water. Frowning, Weasel didn't think the dirt was enough to make her sick, so she ate the venison and drank. She did not get sick.

Timeon delivered food every two days. In that time frame, she heard the sounds of more people being tortured and killed outside. It never got easier for Weasel to listen to it. One of the prisoners nearby her, who could hear it as well as everyone else, began to thrash and scream while flinging themselves against the bars of their cell, begging and screaming that they couldn't take anymore. Timeon had been delivering the food that day at that time, and the scene quickly caught his attention. Slamming down the food he was about to give to the first prisoner, he dragged the screaming prisoner out of their cell, grabbed his spear, and rammed it through the prisoner's throat. Afterwards, an enraged-looking Timeon screamed at everyone else in the jail and said that no one would eat for the day. It was true; no one got any food that day. A replacement captive was put in the cell a day later.

One day, Weasel heard some talk outside of the cell. Deciding to listen in on what they were saying, Weasel heard two men talk. One had a lisp, and the other didn't.

"Urswyck, this is bad for us," the man with the lisp said. "If the Brotherhood Without Banners is around this area, they're going to get in here sooner or later!"

"Vargo, you must calm yourself," Urswyck replied. "The Brotherhood does not directly attack anyone. They've only chipped away at us little by little. If we really wanted to, we could find them and wipe them all out. Our numbers are greater than theirs. We're more armed."

"They've got more people now," Vargo countered. "I got a report from Zollo, who did some scouting with Shagwell earlier. It looks like four or five more. Shagwell says they're the people from the house he ransacked with Rorge and Biter."

Weasel could hear the annoyance in Urswyck's voice. "They aren't much. If I recall correctly, only Pyg and Iggo were caught by surprise. The girl that cut Rorge's nose off, he threw into the river. There's no way she survived. The head of the snake has been cut off."

Weasel's heart sank when she realized who he was talking about.

"Beric Dondarrion is still alive," Vargo hissed. "That group has a new head. Plus, we are also wrapped up in this situation with Harrenhal."

"_Harrenhal?_ What would Gregor Clegane want with us?"

"You know how they snoop around here, Urswyck. They're eyeing us. One of our walls is weak."

"Meaning?"

"They're going to come after us eventually. They just need an opening. They have superior manpower to us, and you know that!"

"Then why not break down our gates and kill us all right now?"

"Like I say: waiting. They can come in here and wipe us all out in a night. I suspect that Clegane's got some other purpose in holding off for so long."

"Why is all of this on your mind?"

"More scouting reports have come in. Clegane's people have been seen around here lately."

"So what do you want to do?"

"We need to wipe out the Brotherhood soon. I'm gathering a group to stage an attack later on. Maybe today, maybe tomorrow."

The conversation between Vargo and Urswyck ended shortly afterward. Weasel remembered Jeyne talking about how the leader of the Brave Companions was a man with a lisp, and Weasel just then understood who had been talking. Still, Weasel was crestfallen about Arya.

Arya had been there ever since Weasel was a toddler. Arya had been the one to take care of her, feed her, and make sure she was well. Weasel understood that, based on the story she had been told by Arya of when they first met, Weasel would have starved to death long ago if she hadn't been found. Weasel did not have very many memories of the early years with Arya and the others. She had pleasant memories of most of them, though Elmar and Lommy (the latter only really in the early days) were the exceptions. Gendry, Edric, and Elmar had been gone for so long, either via leaving to join the Brotherhood Without Banners or death, that Weasel didn't remember what they sounded like.

For the past few days, one prisoner at a time had been removed. Understanding what happened to them after listening to people being tortured to death outside, Weasel knew she would be the final one. She was terrified, and she hoped that Beric, accompanied by her companions and the rest of the Brotherhood Without Banners, would stage a rescue sooner or later before she was set to be killed horribly. With Arya gone, Weasel knew that Willow Heddle would be in charge of the group. And sure, while Weasel liked Willow, it wasn't the same. It also made her wonder about Nymeria. Nymeria did not listen to anyone outside of Arya, and she recalled a moment from several months earlier when Hot Pie and Lommy had tried to get Nymeria inside the house by dragging her leash, but she wouldn't budge until Arya had come out of the house and ordered her inside.

In her cell, Weasel watched as the sole other prisoner was dragged out of the cell next to hers without a fight. It was likely that they knew what they were about to face and saw no reason to fight. Weasel watched with an emotionless face, understanding that what was happening to the prisoner was going to happen to her the next day. If she were doing her math right, Timeon was supposed to feed her that day. However, he did not show up.

_That makes sense,_ Weasel thought. _Food shouldn't be used on someone who's going to die anyway._

Weasel, defeated, just crawled over to the corner of her cell, curled up in a ball, and wept silently while sitting up against the wall.

* * *

"Your eye should be fine," Thoros explained as he put Arya's eyepatch back on her head, covering what remained of her left eye. "Try not to irritate it too much."

Arya nodded. "I understand."

Thoros and Jeyne had just finished treating Arya's infected eye. It was sore, but she was relieved that she wouldn't die of an infection. They were in a large tent which the Brotherhood Without Banners had set up for Thoros to do his work in. Arya understood that the Brotherhood Without Banners were nomadic like the Faceless Men, and she understood why; they were at war with the Brave Companions, and they didn't want to be in the same area where they could get attacked. Therefore, they had to move around.

Arya hopped off the tree stump that she was sitting on that the tent had been pitched over and left with Jeyne. They walked closely together, and Jeyne seemed very happy to have Arya back. While they walked over to where the others were, Arya noticed Jeyne's pleased demeanor and decided to ask her about it.

"You're happy I'm back?" she asked.

Jeyne nodded. "Yes, and so is everyone else. We're _all_ happy to have you back."

Arya and Jeyne made it over to the others. Arya observed as everyone watched her walk over to them, and she sat down in a circular formation with them. Arya was saddened that Weasel wasn't there with them, and she also felt bad about Nymeria not being there as well. She hoped that her dog was faring well in the woods somewhere near the Heddles' home, but she didn't know for sure. It seemed to her that the group was progressively getting smaller.

_We'll get you back, Weasel,_ Arya thought. _Just hold on._

Lommy, who was sitting in between Jeyne and Hot Pie, was the first to speak. "So what happened?"

"I cut Rorge's nose off, and he threw me into the river," Arya explained. "He took my machete, too. I heard about Weasel and how they took her."

"Yeah, the lunatics ran off with her," Willow said, sounding angry. Arya was angry as well, though she didn't show it. However, deep down, she wanted to disembowel Rorge, Biter, and Shagwell after they took Weasel. It made her livid that they were likely torturing her at that moment. She wanted to kick their teeth down their throats, and she wanted to see them all die horribly.

"Anyway, Hot Pie, do you remember Jaqen?"

Hot Pie looked up. "Yeah?"

"He saved me, and he took me to stay with his group, called the Faceless Men."

"Is that where you lost your eye?" Lommy asked.

Arya nodded. "Yes, one of them hated me. She's dead now, so don't worry about her coming after us. Jaqen took me to Harroway, and I met Sandor there after putting my eyepatch on for the first time. You know the rest."

"Regardless of how it happened, we're glad to have you back," Hot Pie said.

"Arya."

Arya turned and saw Beric approaching after he had addressed her. She stood to face him. "Yes?"

"You are in charge of this group, right? And Willow has been taking your place in your absence?"

"That's correct," she answered.

"Then when we attack Saltpans, you will be commanding your companions. Your leadership has helped them live this long, and it's likely that you will continue to live through this madness while you're at the helm of their group."

Beric's words reminded her of Gendry and when he was once in charge of the group. In all honesty, Arya missed him and even Edric to an extent. Therefore, she decided to ask about them.

"Are Gendry and Edric around?" Arya asked Beric.

Beric chuckled. "You're eager to see them again, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"You will in due time, but for now, they are scouting Saltpans right now."

Arya then brought Sandor to mind and how he had spoken to Beric and a few other men from the Brotherhood Without Banners. She decided to ask about him.

"What about Sandor?"

"Sandor will be staying with us until this business with the Brave Companions is over," Beric explained. "We're not going to throw away an extra man to use in this fight."

Now Arya was curious about what they were going to do.

"When are you planning all of this out, and when will you attack?"

"Later tonight," Beric explained. "We'll attack in the morning. We've got battle plans being prepared, and since you are head of a smaller group that has temporarily joined with ours, you will be involved with the battle plans as well."

* * *

At night, Arya had pulled Lommy and Willow aside and had spoken to them about discussing the battle plans. Arya had picked Willow because she was her second in command, and Lommy had been selected due to being the weaponry guy of her group. Therefore, he would likely know how to hit the Brave Companions where it hurt. Both had agreed to help. Arya, when she had spoken to Beric earlier, had learned that Lem, Tom, and Thoros would be discussing the battle plans as well. However, it was not time yet.

Currently, she and Willow were near the outskirts of the Brotherhood Without Banners's camp. Though they were a short distance away, Arya could still make out the light of the fire that they'd kept going all day.

"Honestly, Arya, I'm mentally preparing myself for tomorrow," Willow said.

"What do you mean?" Arya asked.

"A lot of us might die," Willow answered.

"That's been the same for years," Arya replied.

"This is different to me, though," Willow said. Arya noticed the distinct difference in tone with Willow when she spoke to her in private rather than as an authority figure among the rest of the group. Arya was flattered that Willow was willing to let her guard down around her. "Can't you feel that?"

Arya did feel something. "Yeah, but could you explain further?"

"Isn't this… how you and the others felt when you were surrounded by wights at Fairmarket? I mean I think you all thought you were good as dead."

"Willow, Fairmarket was a fluke–"

"But you still all thought you'd die, correct?"

"I did. Weasel told me she did. Hot Pie definitely did. One of us didn't make it out, you know, and got bit."

"What was his name again?"

"Elmar–"

Willow suddenly stuck her arm out to get Arya to stop moving. Arya stopped, and she looked at Willow, confused. "What?"

Willow spoke, whispering. "_You hear that?_"

Arya paused. She didn't hear anything. She, however, took Willow's lead by whispering as well. "_Hear what?_"

"_That noise,_" Willow answered. "_It sounds like… people._"

Arya paused, and then she heard it. It definitely sounded like people walking and whispering amongst themselves off in the darkness. How many were there? It sounded like seven at the least and fourteen at the most. Regardless of how many there were, Arya and Willow remained ramrod still.

Then a gunshot and a bullet embedding itself in a tree inches from Willow's head caused them to scream and run. Arya and Willow, now understanding that they were being attacked, began screaming for help as they ran back to the camp. From behind them, a dozen shouting men gave chase and emerged from the darkness. Arya knew without having to ask that these men were with the Brave Companions.

Almost immediately, Beric grabbed his rifle and started shooting back.

"_EVERYONE GET WEAPONS,_" Beric screamed. "_WE'RE BEING ATTACKED!_"

Arya and a number of others ran for the weapons stash in a larger tent. She was aggravated that she didn't have her machete thanks to Rorge, but she instead went for a large knife. Nearby, Lommy grabbed his new spear, and Sandor grabbed his ax. Running outside, Arya looked to see what was happening. The only light provided came from the bonfire in the middle of the encampment, so Arya knew that the Brave Companions would try and use the darkness to their advantage.

Arya hid behind a tent as she watched some of them advance into the camp. Now that she could see more of them, there were likely twenty-five attackers in total. All of them were armed. Some had firearms, but most had melee weapons. Case in point, the Brave Companions member currently running at Arya with a crowbar. Arya ducked out of the way of his swing, then jabbed upwards with her knife. She missed, and the attacker swung his crowbar to the side, nearly hitting her in the head. Arya scrambled to her feet as she heard gunfire nearby and stabbed her attacker in the side. He let out a yell, then fell after Arya jumped upwards, stabbing him in the chest and then the throat.

Nearby, Jeyne began loading her crossbow as she and Lommy ducked behind one of the motorcycles to avoid being shot by someone out in the dark. Hot Pie whacked someone across the face with his own crowbar and dislodged some of their teeth in the process. Willow, armed with a revolver, shot at someone and hit them in the shoulder, knocking them back. Beric was bleeding; he had taken several shots already, but was still standing. Amid the loud sounds of yelling and gunfire, Arya heard someone fire up a chainsaw. However, she couldn't tell if it was Thoros or someone on the Brave Companions side.

Arya ducked behind another tent as someone on the Brave Companions side ran by. This same individual had their heel sliced open by Arya, and he fell and face planted in the dirt before Arya drove the knife into his eye straight through to the brain. Nearby, Harwin and Jack were doing battle with three people, Willow was reloading her gun, and Notch was in the process of grappling on the ground with a man who was armed with a knife.

As Jeyne fired a crossbow bolt at the man who'd been shooting at her and Lommy, Arya quickly turned to see Sandor cleaving an attacking man's forearm off with his ax in one blow. Beric was nearby, and he fired his rifle at someone and hit them. As he began to reload, a blast of gunfire from the Brave Companions side hit Beric in the chest, and he fell dead.

"_BERIC'S DEAD!_" Arya heard someone yell. However, she didn't have time to learn who it was. She was tackled by someone and wrestled to the ground. She tried to move to stab him, but her attacker punched her in the face, causing her to drop the knife. Instead, Arya lurched forward and bit deep into his arm, yanking backwards hard and ripping out flesh and blood. Her attacker screamed, and Arya picked up her knife and slit his throat after a few moments.

She was now near the bonfire. It seemed like both sides were in a stalemate. From Arya's perspective, it looked like more Brave Companions had died, but they had the advantage of the dark surroundings on their side. Therefore, Arya hoped that they didn't have to blindly shoot into the woods. Just then, she noticed it: a nearby fire. The Brave Companions had set some of the tents on fire. On one hand, part of their supplies would likely be destroyed. On the other hand, it would provide more light for them all, so the Brave Companions had actually shot themselves in the foot a little.

Nearby said new fires, Arya watched as Thoros cleaved someone in half with his chainsaw. He swung to the side and cut a Brave Companions member's head in half while nearly hitting another. Shouting and gunfire still happened around them all, and Arya was genuinely amazed that no wights had been drawn to them because of the noise, and she hoped that none would arrive.

She had no time to think about it. Just then, an Ibbenese man ran from nearby the fire, ax in hand. Arya braced herself for a fight, and she dove towards him with her knife in hand, yelling loudly. Arya ducked out of the way of the man's swing, then dove forwards with her knife. She slashed down, cutting open a bit of his shirt and making a small cut. The Ibbenese man retaliated by swinging the ax again, grazing the side of her forehead.

_Any closer, and he'd have shattered my skull,_ Arya thought. She didn't let this deter her; she kept fighting him by swinging her knife around. Just as she was about to puncture a vein in his neck, she was yanked off to the side by a man with a dagger.

"You shall not prevail!" the man with the dagger shouted. Just as he was about to drive his weapon down to stab Arya, he began yelling and fell. Arya did not see who saved her, but she began to focus on the Ibbenese man instead. Growling, the man charged her with his ax, swinging upwards and then down. He missed, and the head of the ax went into the ground below with a puff of dirt coming upward upon impact.

Before he could do anything else, Jeyne appeared from behind, fired her crossbow, and hit the Ibbenese man in the chest. It wasn't fatal, but it was excruciating enough for him to yell and step back. Arya, noticing her chance, charged and rammed her knife into his gut, stabbing in several places. With one of his hands, the man grabbed Arya by the throat and threw her back. Arya landed on her back and began to get up as she saw him running over to her, reaching for his ax. He was bleeding badly, and Arya thought he would die if he did not get treatment.

As soon as he reached for the ax, two things happened which Arya noticed. The first was that Arya heard more people yelling and shooting. The fires had spread, and thus more in the surrounding area became visible, which helped the Brotherhood Without Banners see more of the Brave Companions and fight back more effectively. The second was that, as the man grabbed his ax, the head of Lommy's spear burst out of his chest from behind him. The man screamed and fell as Lommy ripped the spear out. Arya, noticing her chance, tackled her assailant and drove the knife into his heart.

As Sandor yanked his ax out of the skull of a man he just killed, Arya heard some of the Brave Companions begin to shout.

"_Cut our losses!_"

"_Fall back! Fall back!_"

"_PULL IN, AND FALL BACK!_"

The remaining Brave Companions turned to run away then. Within minutes, they were gone, and Arya could hear them shouting off in the distance. With the Brave Companions gone, Arya decided to walk around the encampment and get a look at the damage. Beric, Mudge, and Dennett had all died. Notch had nearly been killed, but Hot Pie had slain Notch's assailant before Notch himself had wound up dead.

More Brave Companions had been killed than Brotherhood Without Banners members. The tents were still burning, and Arya and everyone else avoided the burning tents. Everyone had wounds in various places, though not many were seriously injured. Most of the Brave Companions members who had attacked them had died, and Arya now felt confident that, even though they'd lost three people, they would make it through the soon raid on Saltpans alright and get Weasel back.

"Are there any left?" Lem asked Arya as he approached her.

A groaning noise from nearby let Arya know what her answer would be.

"Just one."

The man with the dagger, a Brave Companions member whom Lommy had speared in the leg to save Arya from being killed, groaned as he struggled to crawl away. However, his eyes filled with dread as he noticed that he was in the process of being surrounded by Arya, Lem, Sandor, Hot Pie, Lommy, Willow, Jeyne, Thoros, Tom, and everyone else.

* * *

"So how are we doing this?" Sandor asked Arya as they approached the tent where they kept the captive Brave Companions member. The group had learned that his name was Utt, and they had tightly tied him to an armchair with rope. His arms were tied to the arms of the chair.

Earlier, after Utt had been moved into the tent after being restrained, the group had a discussion about what was to be done with him. It was agreed that they would interrogate him for more information about the Brave Companions, Saltpans, and Weasel. It was also agreed that Arya and Sandor would be the ones interrogating Utt. Arya thought that it was because everyone knew they weren't afraid to hurt people to get information. Arya wanted nothing more than to sink a knife into Utt's throat, but she knew that they needed him alive for a while. They hadn't discussed what was to be done with Utt after the interrogation, but Arya figured that since he was involved in a raid that got Beric killed, he himself would be killed as well.

"Start roughing him up if he doesn't talk," Arya answered. They remained quiet as they entered the tent with Utt inside of it. An oil lamp was the only source of light in the tent, and Utt noticed them enter. His leg was still bleeding where Lommy had speared him, and Arya theorized that he'd bleed out if they didn't get enough information out of him quick enough.

"Oh, hello…" Utt said. "What are you here for?"

"Information," Arya said, trying to sound serious. "Tell us everything."

Utt chuckled softly. "I've got nothing to say to you. You know, that was quite the performance you made out there, you and two of your friends killing Togg Joth out there like you did."

Arya and Sandor shared a glance after the former realized that Utt was talking about the Ibbenese man she, Jeyne, and Lommy had worked together to kill. Sandor approached and punched Utt in the face. Arya noticed a part of his right cheek that'd split open where Sandor had hit him.

"I'm afraid you do," Sandor growled, "and if you want to keep your life, you'll tell us everything we need to know about you, your people, and what it is you're planning."

Arya knew that nobody in her own group had any intention of letting Utt live after this, so she theorized that Sandor's false promise of letting him live would persuade him to talk more. Nearby, there was a small tray set up with several weapons and tools on it. Arya knew that they were most likely going to have to be used as instruments of torture in the very near future. She wouldn't have felt anything for Utt if she'd killed him earlier, but now that he was at her and Sandor's mercy, it seemed different. Part of him looked pathetic to Arya, and it seemed like something was holding her back now that he was at her mercy.

"What… I've told you, I'm Utt, I'm part of the Brave Companions…"

"How many people are with you?" Arya asked.

"After what happened out there? Less than one hundred now."

"How well-armed are your people?" Sandor asked.

"Like you."

Arya felt like Utt was holding something back. Sandor must have known, too.

"_Tell us,_" he hissed. "Tell us how armed."

"I've already told you–"

Sandor didn't let Utt finish. He grabbed a metal pipe from the tray and drove it downwards a few times, hitting his bleeding and speared leg repeatedly. Utt screamed, Sandor threw the pipe away, then punched him hard in the chest. As Utt coughed, Sandor shouted, "_HOW ARMED ARE YOU ALL?!_"

"_We have enough for a few more raids…_" Utt said, wheezing.

Arya approached. "Do you have any prisoners right now?"

Utt grinned through his pain. "Yes, a little girl we took from your home."

Arya's eye narrowed. She needed to hear about Weasel and how she was doing and where she was. Getting Weasel back was Arya's main priority in regards to dealing with the Brave Companions, and she would carve through hundreds of people to get her back. She had no doubt that others in her group knew that she would be out for blood if Weasel were ever put in harm's way, and now she definitely was.

"_Where is she?_" Arya demanded, taking a step forward.

Utt laughed. "She's such a cute little thing… so small and innocent…"

Arya began getting more angry. Not only was Utt saying these things about Weasel instead of answering her, she felt as if she were being pushed farther away from getting Weasel back. Arya remembered her fight with Rorge and how powerless she felt then. She would not let it happen again.

"_Where is she?!_" Arya demanded, speaking more loudly than before.

"She won't be there for long…" Utt said, grinning. "She'll be dead tomorrow morning."

Arya was approaching her breaking point. Utt was still withholding vital information about Weasel, and she was getting ready to hurt him. More memories came back–all the times Arya had protected and taken care of Weasel and inwardly crying about her potentially being dead when she was with the Faceless Men–and Arya's forearms and hands began to shake. Arya turned, grabbed a hatchet from off the tray, then approached.

"One last chance," Arya said, staring hatefully into Utt's eyes. "Where do you keep your prisoners?"

Utt chuckled. Every word he spoke in that evil tone he used, Arya became more angry. "First, we'll rip her fingernails off. Then we'll gouge out both of her eyes. After that, she might lose a hand or two. Then we'll sever her legs. And when she's on the ground, crying her eyes out, we'll hammer her teeth in before ramming a spear straight up he–"

Arya didn't let her finish. She raised the hatchet, swung down hard as possible, and severed two of Utt's fingers on his left hand. As Utt screamed, Arya noticed that there wasn't even bone or a strip of flesh connecting the fingers to the hand. Sandor stepped back a bit as Arya moved to kick his speared leg a few times and stamp down on it three times. Arya heard something crackle and splinter. Fresh blood poured from the leg wound, and Utt continued to wail.

Arya, now feeling nothing but sheer inhuman rage, grabbed the hair at the back of Utt's head, yanked back, and put the blade of the hatchet to his throat. "_WHERE DO YOU KEEP YOUR PRISONERS?!_" Arya screamed as loudly as possible. Utt tried to look threatening in the heat of the moment, but failed as Arya kept screaming and moved the knife closer to his throat. "_WANT ME TO KEEP GOING?! YOU'VE STILL GOT EIGHT MORE!_"

"_OKAY!_" Utt yelled. Arya stepped back as he kept talking. "We keep our prisoners in the old jail in Saltpans… it used to be the jail of the town before the dead started walking… when we need more space before a raid, we usually… we usually take the prisoners out one by one and torture them to death for the fun of it…"

"Where is the jail?" Sandor asked.

"In the middle," Utt wheezed.

"Where is your weakest wall?" Arya asked.

Utt frowned disapprovingly. "No, I won't tell you. I can't."

Arya wasn't amused. "You _CAN'T_, or you _WON'T?!_"

Sandor didn't want to wait. He approached, and with one hard punch, he hit Utt in the mouth once, twice, then twice became five times. Blood poured from his mouth, and Arya noticed that Sandor had knocked in a number of Utt's teeth. Arya took a little pleasure in this; the sight reminded her of Utt's words regarding mashing Weasel's teeth in. For a second, Arya wanted Sandor to finish the job.

Utt spit up blood and teeth. Utt's eyes narrowed. "No, I won't."

Before he said anything else, Arya rushed forward and rammed the hatchet into his face. Utt screamed as Arya wrenched the hatchet out of his face. It was then that she noticed she had cut his left eye in half. Noticing this, she decided to use it to her and Sandor's benefit. "_TELL US, OR I MAKE YOU COMPLETELY BLIND!_"

"_THE EAST!_" Utt screamed. "_THE EASTERNMOST WALL! WE WERE GOING TO ADD MORE DEFENSES IN THE COMING WEEKS!_"

Arya stepped back. "Thank you," she said. She then grabbed a knife from off the tray and dropped the hatchet. Utt saw this with his remaining eye and, before he could protest, Arya swung and slashed his throat open. As he died there in the chair, Arya and Sandor watched. When Utt twitched for the last time, they both left to leave the tent to find Lommy, Thoros, and the others to plan the attack on Saltpans.

* * *

"Where's Utt?" Lommy asked as Arya and Sandor entered one of the larger tents.

"Dead," she answered bluntly.

In the tent were Arya, Sandor, Thoros, Lem, Tom, Lommy, and Willow. Arya was disappointed that Beric was not there to fight and plan alongside them, but she knew that she was not the only person who had people she knew and cared about hurt by the Brave Companions; she had no doubt that the remaining Brotherhood Without Banners members would all be out for blood after Beric's death. Judging by the looks in the eyes of Thoros, Lem, and Tom, that was likely the truth.

"What did you find out, then?" Lem asked.

Arya and Sandor approached a table that'd been set up in the tent. There was a road atlas on it, and Saltpans had been circled. Everyone gathered around in a circular formation, and Arya spoke. "They keep their prisoners in the town jail, and Weasel is their only one left. Utt said they torture their prisoners to death for fun, so we've got until later on tomorrow morning. Utt also said their easternmost wall is the least fortified and have enough weapons to do two more raids."

"I suppose something could be done about that wall, then," Thoros commented.

"Yes," Arya replied.

Lommy's eyes seemed to light up. "_I know!_"

Everyone turned to look at him. "Yes?" Sandor said. Arya immediately knew what he had in mind.

"Arya, you were at the house, right?" he asked.

"Yes, Sandor and I were," Arya answered.

"Was my workshop in the basement damaged much?"

"Not much, only a little," Arya explained.

"Then we'll have to stop by there," Lommy replied. "I'm getting my stuff and making a bomb tonight to use tomorrow."

"How fast can you make one?" Arya asked.

"A few hours," Lommy answered. "If most of my stuff is undamaged, then it'll get done pretty quick."

They spent the rest of the meeting discussing who would be doing what in the morning.

* * *

After the battle plans for the attack on Saltpans had concluded, Arya and Lommy got on the backs of the motorcycles respectively belonging to Anguy and Jack and went back to the house. Dismounting the motorcycles, Arya and Lommy went inside the house. Lommy had his spear, and Arya had a knife. They had come armed in case any wights were in the house.

"How long will it take?" Jack asked as Arya and Lommy began to walk towards the house.

"A few hours," Lommy answered. "Maybe less."

They went in, and they didn't find any wights. Arya found a flashlight in a cabinet in the kitchen, turned it on, and followed Lommy into the basement. She was about ten steps behind him, and she watched him enter the basement first as she followed in after him.

"Arya, shine the light around the basement. I need to see."

Briefly wondering why they didn't just turn the light on, Arya decided to just stick with the flashlight for the time being. Nearby, Lommy got to work with gathering a bunch of supplies onto the table. Present there were fertilizer, a new propane tank, and some other materials Arya didn't recognize very well. Lommy got to work almost immediately.

"Keep that light on me," Lommy requested, not taking his eyes off of his work. "This'll be lighter than La Diabla, but it'll still pack a punch."

* * *

"Arya," Jeyne said as she shook her group's leader awake. "Arya, get up. It's time."

Arya, rubbing her right eye, got up and looked at Jeyne. She could already begin to feel her heart beat, already anticipating what was to come at Saltpans later on in the morning. Arya knew they couldn't lay around and hesitate; Weasel would die if they waited too long, and they needed to get over there.

Arya grabbed a knife from the weapons tent, and she soon found Jeyne with Willow, Lommy, and Hot Pie. Lommy was holding his completed bomb. Arya noticed its name scribbled on the side of the propane tank with a thick black marker.

**"FLAMES AND GLORY"**

During the previous night, Lommy had finished the bomb in only an hour and a half. Taking it back to the Brotherhood Without Banners's camp, the members of Arya's group gathered around to take a look at it. Lommy was insistent that the new bomb be named, and various suggestions were thrown around. The two that Arya remembered the most were "Glorious Strike" and "Lommy Junior". Hot Pie and Willow both liked Glorious Strike, but Jeyne liked Lommy Junior more. Jeyne tried to comment in an anticipatory tone that the name "Lommy Junior" was most certainly a "precursor" to something in the future, but her words fell mostly on deaf ears. Arya, personally, did not care for either name, and neither did Lommy himself. He told the others that he would pick a different name, and he disappeared into one of the tents with his creation for the night.

"Do you remember what our plans are?" Arya asked Lommy once he noticed her in front of him.

"Yeah," Lommy replied, nodding. "I light this thing, it goes off, and then we go in through the hole with Hot Pie, Jack, Sandor, and Anguy."

After a few more brief discussions, Arya was off with the others, riding on the back of Sandor's motorcycle towards Saltpans. During the previous night, a few members of the Brotherhood Without Banners went to find Gendry and Edric where they had been scouting and filled them in on what was going on. They would apparently be taking part in the attack as well. Arya just hoped that Weasel hadn't been harmed yet. Arya looked into the distance, and she saw a massive manmade wall nearing. The wall was made up of metal sheets, rebar, wood, and cinder blocks, and it looked to be fifteen feet high.

Sandor and the others deliberately avoided the front entrance of the wall, and Sandor, Jack, and Anguy directed their motorcycles to head to the easternmost wall. The plan was that the others would come in through the front after the noise of the explosion from the east distracted the Brave Companions who were within the walls of Saltpans. The riders of the motorcycles killed the engines of said vehicles, and Lommy approached the weaker-looking parts of the wall with Flames and Glory in hand. Slowly, Lommy placed the bomb down, grabbed the wire attached to it, then set it on fire with a lighter. Lommy turned to run back to the motorcycles and swiveled around, eager to watch. Arya knew he wouldn't miss this for anything.

Arya braced herself for what was to come. Flames and Glory went off, and a large hole in the eastern wall of Saltpans was formed in the process. Arya then realized that Utt had told the truth about the weakness of the easternmost wall, and this allowed them a way in. Without further ado, they ran in, Arya hoping to reach the middle of the settlement to rescue Weasel. Almost immediately after they ran into Saltpans, Arya heard a number of angry shouting men, which prompted Arya to draw her knife. Off in the distance, Arya heard more shouting and the sounds of gunfire.

Several Brave Companions members neared Arya and those with her. One had a large knife of his own, one was unarmed, and another was loading a shotgun. Anguy noticed that last of the three and fired off an arrow before he could shoot anyone, the arrow going through the front of his throat and into his spinal cord. Arya charged forward, and she dove for her attacker, stabbing him in the chest before she herself could get stabbed. Nearby, more Brave Companions members charged towards them all. Jack blew one's brains out with a rifle while Sandor nearly decapitated another with his ax. Lommy speared one through the abdomen after his left cheek was grazed by a dagger. Nearby, Hot Pie, wielding a revolver, shot down another attacker.

Moving forward, Arya realized that due to the small amount of people they were fighting coming from the east, either most of them were focusing on the larger group up front, or their forces were split. Arya hoped it was the latter. Still, her focus was on finding the jail to get Weasel back.

After a while of fighting off Brave Companions members, they were nearing the middle, and the sounds of battle were closer. Arya could have sworn she could hear Willow and others yelling nearby. Arya felt like they were all doing a good job. She nearly leapt out of her skin when she suddenly felt a strong hand on her shoulder.

It was Jack. "You break off from us three," he said. Hot Pie, Lommy, Sandor, and Anguy were now paying attention as well. "If we split up, they'll be divided even more. You have a little girl you need to find, correct?"

Arya nodded. "Yes."

"Then go find her!"

They broke off from each other then into two groups of three. Arya, Lommy, and Hot Pie went deeper into Saltpans to find the jail while Sandor, Jack, and Anguy helped the others wipe out the Brave Companions. Before Arya got further away from Jack, she thought she heard Willow's loud, commanding voice yell again.

Regardless, they continued on to wherever the jail was located. Arya hoped to find it soon, partly because she didn't want Weasel to die and partly because she didn't want to lead Hot Pie and Lommy on a wild goose chase through Saltpans. After a while, they found it thanks to a sign. And outside of it, they found a number of people waiting for them.

Outside of the jail were Rorge, Biter, and two others. It had been apparent that they had been doing battle with the others, but now that they found them, Arya immediately noticed a look of recognition in Rorge's eyes on his noseless face. What was also notable was that he had her machete in his right hand. Both groups paused to stare each other down as the sounds of battle raged in the distance behind Arya, Hot Pie, and Lommy.

"_You,_" Rorge growled. "I should've killed you back in Crossroads."

"You didn't," Arya replied. "And you won't do it now."

Rorge's eyes narrowed. "Do you want to find out? Because I'll pop that eye out and make you eat it, then I'll rip your teeth out one by one. You want a nose like mine? Fight me, and you'll get one–"

Rorge was cut off by Hot Pie firing his revolver at Rorge's chest. However, he wasn't able to aim very well, and he hit Rorge in the left shoulder instead of say a lung or the heart. Rorge fell on his back, and Biter and the other two Brave Companions charged at Arya, Hot Pie, and Lommy. Arya knew that Hot Pie had a melee weapon, a crowbar, strapped to his back to use in case he ran out of ammo. Rorge, though wounded, was back up on his feet in seconds, and Arya was rushing right towards him. Arya swung her knife at him and had to roll out of the way as he swung the machete at her. Arya got in a quick slice at the leg before Rorge shouted again and swung his free arm at her in a wide arc. He hit her and sent her sprawling.

_Makes sense,_ Arya thought. He had hit her in her blind spot thanks to her eyepatch. Instead of whining, Arya climbed to her feet as Rorge charged over. Nearby, Hot Pie's revolver went off twice. Lommy swung his spear at Biter. Biter had several large, bleeding gashes because of Lommy, but it didn't seem to deter him. Arya, focusing on her own fight with Rorge, charged forward and rammed the knife into his side. Rorge grunted, grabbed her by the throat with his free hand, then hurled her towards the outside wall of the jail. Arya made contact, fell and began coughing as Rorge ran over and stamped his foot down into her chest. Arya coughed again before Rorge stamped down on her face, causing her to hit the back of her head on the pavement below.

Before Rorge could do more damage, two more gunshots from Hot Pie fired off as Rorge raised the machete to swing down. He screamed after being shot in the back twice, staggering back. Noticing that her knife was still in Rorge's side, Arya climbed to her feet, hurried over, then ripped the knife out.

Rorge looked like he wanted to kill someone. "DO YOU _EVER_ GIVE UP!?"

Arya didn't answer. Instead, as Hot Pie was put in a headlock by one of his attackers, Arya swung the knife down and opened a massive vertical gash in Rorge's torso. He swung both of his arms again and missed as Arya dove for Rorge's feet as he stumbled forward in an attempt to catch her. Rorge fell. There was a yell and then a thud as Rorge hit the pavement. Noticing her opportunity, Arya reached for her machete, ripped it from Rorge's hand, then jumped back as he got back up.

Rorge and Arya charged towards each other at full speed. Arya knew that if she missed this chance to finish what she started back at the house, she would likely never get it again. As a now unarmed Rorge reached for her, Arya leapt forward, pulled her arm attached to the hand with the machete back, then shoved it forward when she got close. The machete, in a few moments, was buried up to the handle in Rorge's body.

Rorge screamed and reached down for Arya's face. Arya, figuring that Rorge's mind was moving into "fight for your life" territory, theorized that he would not be fully thinking rationally as a result of operating on adrenaline. Therefore, she drove the knife into his hand, straight through the palm. Rorge screamed again and desperately jerked his hand back. Blood was pouring over Arya's other hand, which was still wrapped around the handle of her machete. Nearby, Arya heard another gunshot as Hot Pie's remaining assailant fell. Lommy was still grappling with Biter.

Arya ripped the knife out of Rorge's hand as she yanked the machete down. Rorge screamed and sank to his knees as Arya went down with him. Rorge, with both of his hands, wrapped said hands around Arya's throat and began to squeeze. Arya let out a loud cry herself as she lurched forward and drove the knife into Rorge's right jugular vein and into his throat. Rorge began to choke and spit up blood, and he released Arya and fell. As Rorge continued to die, Arya moved to rip the machete out of him, but was suddenly sent rolling across the pavement as a massive force made contact with her.

Arya tried to get back to her feet, but was suddenly tackled again by a heavily-bleeding Biter. Biter hissed in Arya's face as he held her arms down. His weight kept her from getting up and, Arya noticed, he did not have a tongue. He dove downwards and bit into her face, biting hard enough with his sharpened teeth to draw blood. Biter rose up with a clump of Arya's cheek in his mouth. Arya watched as he swallowed it.

_He's eating me,_ Arya realized.

Before Biter could do anything else, Arya heard Rorge's life end as he finished gagging on his own blood as someone new knocked Biter off of her. Biter, who had a red, bloodied eye thanks to the new attack of blunt force, hissed loudly as he looked at his new attacker. Before he could do anything else, the attacker hit him again, and as Arya got up, she realized who it was as he swung his sledgehammer a second time.

Gendry made contact again, hitting Biter atop his bald head. Gendry kept smashing a now unconscious Biter's head in with the sledgehammer as Arya moved to yank her machete out of Rorge's corpse. Nearby, Hot Pie and Lommy watched. After a few more swings, Biter was dead, and Gendry looked over to see Arya watching.

"Hello again, Arya," he said.

Arya ran over and briefly hugged him. "You have _NO IDEA_ how relieved I am to see you."

"What is your goal here?" he asked after she let him go.

"We need to save Weasel," Arya explained. "She's trapped in that jail here."

With only saying a few more words, Arya, Gendry, Hot Pie, and Lommy all ran to the front of the jail. Gendry tried the door.

"It's locked."

"What are you gonna do?" Lommy asked.

Gendry stuck out one of his hands to urge the other three away. "Stand back."

He began swinging at the door with the sledgehammer.

* * *

For a moment, Weasel couldn't believe her ears. Arya was still alive, and she was here to rescue her. The only problem was that Timeon was in the jail as the sole guard inside. He was armed with his spear, and he kept a sharp eye on the exit. Weasel knew that her death had been postponed by the Brave Companions; she was likely minutes away from being dragged out of the building and subsequently tortured to death before Arya and the Brotherhood Without Banners attacked Saltpans.

Both Weasel and Timeon remained quiet until they both heard a loud slamming noise coming from the entrance to the jail. It sounded like someone trying to batter the door down with something large. Timeon, frowning, approached with his spear, shouting threats to whoever was on the other side of the door. Weasel knew that someone, likely someone she knew, was there to rescue her. She had overheard Arya's fight with Rorge outside, and she knew that Gendry had arrived to save her from Biter. Now Rorge and Biter were dead, and Weasel was likely to soon be rescued.

Gendry broke the door open with his sledgehammer and ran in with the others. Timeon yelled loudly and charged with his spear. He tried to impale someone with it, but was soon overwhelmed and killed by Arya, Gendry, Hot Pie, and Lommy all ganging up on him at once. When Timeon was deemed officially dead, they noticed Weasel. Weasel called to them, "_Please help me!_"

Gendry, walking over to the door, prepared to break it open with the hammer. "Stand back," he instructed.

Weasel hurried to the back corner of the cell as Gendry began swinging the sledgehammer. After a number of hard swings, the door was broken open. Gendry flung it open, and Weasel ran out, past Gendry, and straight to Arya. Arya dropped her two weapons and embraced Weasel in a tight hug. After a few moments, they let each other go.

"Take the knife I dropped," Arya said. "You'll need to protect yourself."

Arya picked up her machete as Weasel picked up the knife. Lommy seemed to have ideas that differed from the others. "Let's search the jail," he said. "They might have something we can use here."

The others agreed, and they got to searching. Weasel stuck by Arya's side throughout the whole thing, and they didn't find much. And then Lommy started yelling from the back. "_HEY! BACK HERE!_"

They hurried to the back of the jail. There they found a massive weapons stash–Weasel realized that the jail was likely one of the Brave Companions's weapon stashes in Saltpans–and inside was a sizable amount of firearms, ammo, and other forms of weaponry. Weasel was surprised that none of the Brave Companions had been there yet to arm themselves, and she was also surprised that Timeon hadn't thought to go back there himself.

Lommy and Hot Pie immediately began to head for the larger semi-automatic rifles there. Lommy, grinning, spoke to himself, saying, "There's gotta be a full auto in here somewhere."

Hot Pie turned his lead to look at Arya, Gendry, and Weasel. "You guys go on ahead and get Weasel out of here," he said. "We'll catch up with you."

Weasel, though she was armed, knew that she could be easily overpowered. She was small compared to Arya and Gendry, and she knew she would have to rely on quick reflexes to actually do some damage if she were to be suddenly grabbed by someone. Everyone in Saltpans knew that she was the prisoner of the Brave Companions, and now she was escaping amid an attack made by the Brotherhood Without Banners.

"The front is jammed with people shooting at each other," Gendry said to Arya. "Do you have any idea where we can go as an alternative?"

"Lommy blew a hole in the east wall," Arya explained. "That's how we got in."

"And that's how we'll get out," Gendry replied.

They ran for the hole then. After a few moments, Weasel looked and saw it first. Arya, Gendry, and Weasel had to stop when they saw a steady stream of wights pour in from the hole. It became very clear that all of the noise coming from Saltpans had attracted them there.

Gendry sighed before the three turned to run. "_Me and my big mouth._"

"Where are we going?" Arya asked as they ran.

"Only one way we can go," Gendry replied. "Through the front."

Weasel, though she didn't say anything, was concerned. From what she could tell, most of the fighting was taking place up front. There were wights spilling in from behind them, and they were stuck in the middle of both. However, Weasel would much rather be accidentally shot and killed instantly by a stray bullet rather than feel everything while being ripped apart by a wight. The sounds of the gunfire got louder as they approached, and Weasel realized that they would likely have to fight their way out.

The three of them made their way from building to building, trying not to be seen. The sense of urgency regarding the wights coming from behind made them move faster, and they wanted to keep away from the front until the fighting was over and they had an opening, but none made itself known. As they got closer to the front entrance, it seemed like there was less action there. Weasel hoped that it meant more of the Brave Companions were being slain. As they got closer and closer, Weasel heard what was unmistakably the sounds of wights growling coming from behind.

_They're getting closer,_ she realized with horror.

They ducked behind a building as a Brave Companions member with a shotgun hid nearby them. He was bleeding pretty badly out of a wound in his chest, and Arya, Gendry, and Weasel watched in silence as a wight, half skeletal with bloated, rotting flesh in various places, appeared ten feet in front of the wounded Brave Companions member and smelled blood in the air. It growled, then charged. The Brave Companions member could hardly raise his weapon before being tackled and having his throat bitten into. As the wight attacked, the three noticed their chance. Weasel stabbed the wight in the back of the head before Arya drove her machete into the head of the dying man below to prevent him from turning.

"Where to now?" Gendry asked Arya.

"Keep moving forward," she answered.

Arya and Gendry turned to run. Weasel, who was behind the both of them, started to hurry after them. However, before she could get two yards, someone with a strong grip reached out and grabbed the back of her shirt.

"_GOTCHA!_" Weasel heard a familiar voice shout.

"_ARYA! GENDRY! HELP ME!_" Weasel screamed, and Arya and Gendry turned to see her being dragged away.

Weasel looked up as best as she could and saw that she was in the grip of none other than Vargo Hoat himself. He was dragging her away with his left hand, and in his right was a machete of his own. Weasel tried to move to stab his leg, but her arm was grabbed by Urswyck, who along with Zollo, a fat member of the Brave Companions, was accompanying Vargo. Urswyck took her knife from her, threw it away, and then listened to what Vargo had to say.

Weasel noticed Zollo's ax in his right hand, Urswyck's spear, and Vargo's prominent lisp as he spoke. "I'm using her as bait. Kill the others when they arrive."

Weasel began to thrash violently and scream in an effort to get away. Part of her hoped that the screaming would attract a wight to grab Vargo to help her escape, but none came. Instead, the screaming just made Vargo more aggravated.

"_SHUT UP!_" he screamed as he dropped his machete, grabbed Weasel, and began slamming her head into the side of the building they were next to. Weasel's face made contact with the brick wall once, then twice, then three times. By the end of it, she had stopped screaming and fighting, and Vargo dropped her bleeding and whimpering form to the pavement as he reached for his machete as Arya and Gendry reached Zollo and Urswyck.

Zollo, not wanting to hesitate, swung his ax down and tried to cleave Gendry's skull open. Gendry noticed and jumped back, the blade of the ax grazing his cheek instead. Urswyck tried to spear Arya, and he punctured her right shoulder. Arya screamed and jumped back, yanking the weapon out of herself, and she readied herself and tightly gripped her machete.

Weasel was still mostly lucid. She realized that Vargo had slammed her head into the wall likely to disorient her so he could help fight Arya and Gendry without having to worry about her running off and escaping somewhere. However, he hadn't hit her hard enough. Weasel, though she was disarmed, knew she had to do something. As Vargo hurried over to Zollo and Urswyck, she ran at full speed from behind him.

When she got close, she leapt, latched onto Vargo's back, climbed, and, not knowing what else to do, she bit down onto his left ear. Vargo screamed and reached backwards, trying desperately to wrench Weasel off of himself. Weasel could feel blood beginning to pool in her mouth. She bit down harder, her arms wrapped around Vargo's throat.

"_GET HER OFF!_" Vargo screamed as he began to stagger around. Urswyck turned to help his group's leader as Zollo swung his ax at Arya. He missed.

Urswyck ran, spear in hand, and chucked it at Weasel's head. Weasel, who had bitten down a little harder before the spear had been thrown, planted her hands and feet on Vargo's back and yanked backwards, propelling herself off to avoid getting hit by the spear. The spear missed, and she felt part of Vargo's left ear rip off in her mouth. She rolled as she hit the pavement, then spit the half of the ear out of her mouth.

Nearby, Gendry landed a direct hit on Zollo's head with his sledgehammer as Arya drove her machete into his side. Zollo fell, and Arya drove the machete into his head, killing him. They ran to help Weasel as Vargo and Urswyck headed over to her. Urswyck went for his spear just as a loud noise that almost sounded like an explosion came from near the front.

Vargo screamed and began to swing his machete, but was tackled by Gendry. They began to grapple around on the ground as Arya leapt and impaled Urswyck through the chest with her own machete, killing him in moments. Arya ran to help Weasel up as Gendry began to smash in Vargo's head with his sledgehammer, like when he killed Biter. After Gendry was sure he was dead, the three grouped up.

"Same way?" Gendry asked.

Arya nodded. "Same way."

They figured they didn't have time to search for Weasel's knife. They just ran for the front. Weasel wondered if the massive noise that she'd heard was on the minds of Arya and Gendry as well. They didn't get far. After a short while, the three ran into Sandor, Anguy, and Jack.

"You got her out?" Sandor said. "Where's the other two?"

"They're back at the jail," Arya explained. "They said they were going to take some of the weapons."

"Then we'd better hurry," Anguy replied. "We beat a bunch of them back, but we need to leave."

"Why not finish them off?" Arya asked, sounding aggravated.

"My brother and his pet rats are here now," Sandor explained. "I saw them, men from Harrenhal. We need to leave before they kill us all."

"Where are the others?" Arya asked.

"They're heading towards that hole your friend blew into the eastern wall," Jack answered.

"Wights are coming in from there!" Arya replied. "They'll be torn apart–"

"Then we fight through them!" Jack shot back. "Now _go!_"

The six then began to make their way back to the hole. Along the way, they quickly ran into Lommy and Hot Pie. Lommy, grinning from ear to ear, was wielding an M-16 rifle. Hot Pie had an AK-47.

"I found a full auto!" Lommy said, almost giddy. "We didn't find anything for this one, though."

Hot Pie nodded. "Yeah!"

"Alright then, Fat and Skinny," Sandor replied to both Hot Pie and Lommy. "We need to get out of here! Now _MOVE!_"

The group, now larger, began to make their way towards the hole. The closer they got, the more wights they saw and had to fight off. The group grew larger as they kept heading towards their intended exit. All the while, Weasel heard loud noises coming from behind. Because of this, she recalled what she'd heard about people from Harrenhal being spotted around the area, and it became apparent that they were using this as an opportunity to finally strike.

As the massive group neared the hole in the wall, more wights appeared to them. They were all dispatched, and there had been a few close calls here and there. As Weasel ran by a building, she got a quick, few second look at a scene of the men from Harrenhal doing away with the remainder of the Brave Companions. Shagwell lay dead at the feet of a group of five people, who were in the process of surrounding Qyburn, who had his hands up as if to suggest surrender.

Weasel had no time to watch and see if Qyburn would be killed. One person in the massive group that was leaving–Jeyne Heddle–grabbed Weasel by the right forearm and dragged her along. Weasel, understanding that she would most likely be killed in some way if she were to be left behind, understood Jeyne's gesture.

They would have all had a straight shot to the hole which Lommy had made in the wall of Saltpans if it weren't for the wights which were still pouring in. Lommy and Hot Pie, who were up front, gathered in a line with other men armed with firearms, and they aimed their weapons at the dead as they took notice of them.

They opened fire almost at the same same time. In seconds, lines of the dead fell. When a third of them were gone, the massive group ran closer, some with firearms beginning to reload. The same thing repeated, and more of the dead fell. By the time they got closer to the hole, those with melee weapons ran up and began carving through the mass of wights. It reminded Weasel of Fairmarket.

They made it to the hole. Lommy and Hot Pie were the first few out, followed by the rest. They ran for the motorcycles and didn't look back once.

* * *

They regrouped back at the encampment of the Brotherhood Without Banners. Arya, riding on the back of Sandor's motorcycle, was among the first to get there. She was still bleeding out of her shoulder where Urswyck had speared her, but alive nonetheless. They waited there for a while, and then everyone else arrived.

There was a period of a few hours where Jeyne and Thoros cleaned and bandaged everyone's wounds as best as they could. Arya was thankful that Urswyck hadn't severed any nerves in her shoulder, and Jeyne agreed.

"That could've been very bad, Arya," Jeyne commented. Arya didn't disagree.

Afterward, they all gathered in a circle as Arya, Lommy, and Willow spoke to Thoros, Lem, and Tom. Now that the groups were parting ways, Arya understood that there needed to be some final talk between her own group and the remaining members of the Brotherhood Without Banners. Arya figured that with Beric gone, the latter group would have to be led by Lem, Thoros, and Tom since they seemed to be the only authority figures left.

"So this is it, then?" Lem asked. "Where we split apart?"

Arya nodded. "Yes, though I would like for the trade between our two groups to continue."

Thoros put a hand to his chin thoughtfully and nodded. "Yes, yes, that would be beneficial."

They continued to speak for a while. Finally, Lem spoke to everyone in the observing crowd at the end. "Does anyone here have anything they'd like to add?"

Gendry stepped forward. "I do."

"What is it then, Gendry?" Thoros asked.

"I'd like to join her group again."

Arya's eye widened. Was this really happening? Was he really going to come back after so long?

"You're serious, then?" Lem asked.

Gendry nodded. "Yes."

Another familiar face Arya recognized, Edric Dayne, stepped out from the crowd. This was the first time Arya had seen Edric. To her, it was a similar feeling to when she saw Gendry for the first time in a long time earlier in the day, though she was more relieved to see Gendry because he had saved her from being killed by Biter.

"I agree with Gendry," Edric said. "He should go with them."

"You think so, Eric?" Thoros asked, turning his head to look at him.

Edric nodded. "Yes. He should go back with them."

Arya got a look at Gendry's face, and she could tell that he was surprised that Edric was saying this about him. However, she herself figured that she was the most surprised of everyone there, especially when considering everything that happened between Gendry and Edric after Elmar had been bitten years earlier. Therefore, Arya suspected that Edric and Gendry had grown as people and grew to respect each other as time went on during their time in the Brotherhood Without Banners together. Arya hoped that this meant Edric didn't want to tear Gendry's throat out anymore over what happened with Elmar.

There was some discussion, and Lem was among the final people to speak. "That settles it, then," he said. "Gendry's out. And what of Sandor?" He and everyone else turned to face him then. "What about you? You're heading on out, right?"

Sandor frowned. "I guess I'll have to join you," he said. "It's not like I have a choice now, do I? I've got nowhere else to go."

* * *

It was dusk out when Arya, Gendry, Hot Pie, Lommy, Weasel, Jeyne, and Willow all returned to the house. They had gone on foot, and Arya was relieved to be back after all that had happened. Arya just wanted to sit down and take a breath after all that had gone on during the past week, and she was sure everyone had felt the same way. Hot Pie and Lommy still had the weapons they had found in the jail, and they expressed interest in going back to get more supplies from the wreckage of Saltpans. However, Arya and Gendry talked them out of it; everything left behind had likely already been scavenged by the men from Harrenhal. Hot Pie and Lommy were disappointed.

Gendry got a look around the living room after Iggo and Pyg's bodies were dumped in the river. A few members of the Brotherhood Without Banners had followed them hours later to collect Watty and Alyn's bodies to bury them alongside Beric. Gendry looked around, and then spoke to Arya, who was to his right.

"It's bigger than I remember," he said. "Do you have any vacant rooms?"

That caught Arya off guard. She had been so caught up with everything that'd been going on that she hadn't thought of where Gendry would sleep if he came back to the house. Arya had her own room with Weasel, Lommy mostly slept in the basement, Jeyne and Willow had their own room, and Hot Pie had his own room (which was too small for more than one person). Therefore, she had no idea where Gendry would sleep.

He must've noticed. "Nevermind. I'll sleep on the couch."

Gendry walked away to speak to Willow and Jeyne. When he was gone, Arya felt a familiar tug at her shirt. She turned and saw Weasel standing there.

"Yes?" Arya asked.

"Outside," Weasel explained, then taking her by the hand and guiding her outside.

"Weasel, what is it?" Arya asked. Weasel pointed in the yard.

"I saw her coming out from the woods and called her over."

Arya's eye widened. "_Nymeria!_ Come over here!"

Nymeria, who had been sniffing the hole La Diabla had made, perked her head up and hurried over to Arya. Arya knelt and began petting her dog and scratching her behind her ears, pleased to see that she was okay. Nymeria looked a little malnourished, but otherwise fine. Arya looked over her shoulder at Weasel. "Weasel, go and get some food for her."

Weasel disappeared into the house. As Arya continued to pet Nymeria, Gendry stepped out and watched them for a moment. "Found your dog?"

Arya nodded. Gendry knelt down and looked over Nymeria. He glanced at Arya. "You mind if I pet her?"

"Go ahead," Arya replied.

Gendry paused before gently stroking Nymeria's fur. They continued to pet Nymeria for a while until Weasel came back with a fish. As Nymeria began eating after Weasel put it in front of her, Gendry spoke to Arya.

"I guess it feels pretty weird to see me again after so long."

"Honestly?" Arya said, facing him. "It's nice to have you back, Gendry."


	13. Ashes To Ashes (2017)

**Vee:** Thanks for the feedback! And I am trying to keep everyone in character as much as possible. However, I have to take liberties with some of them because of a lack of personalty (case in point, Weasel, who is only there for a short while in ACOK, kind of similar to Lommy. The same goes for characters like Elmar and the Heddle sisters).

* * *

**Chapter Thirteen:**

**Ashes To Ashes (2017)**

* * *

One year had passed since Weasel had been rescued from the Brave Companions. Arya, Gendry, and Hot Pie had just returned to the house after going on a hunt together. As they walked up to the house, Arya got a look at the sack of dead animals that Hot Pie had in his possession and the dead deer slung over Gendry's shoulder. He had used his sledgehammer to smash its head in after Hot Pie had crippled it by shooting it in the leg with an arrow. Arya was thankful for what Hot Pie had done; without his quick action, it would have gotten away.

Entering the house after passing by the spot where the hole in the yard once was (the group had filled it after Nymeria had been discovered during the previous year), Gendry placed his sledgehammer up against the wall adjacent to the door before he, Arya, and Hot Pie went to deliver the food to Willow. Hot Pie, as Willow watched, placed the sack on the counter. Gendry maneuvered his arms to place the deer next to the sack.

"I'm going to prepare the food with Willow," Hot Pie announced to Arya and Gendry. "This is going to take a while."

Arya, as she and Gendry proceeded to walk away from Hot Pie and Willow, glanced over at Gendry's sledgehammer. "That looks pretty heavy," she commented. "How easy is it for you to swing around?"

"Not that hard for me," Gendry answered. "You just let momentum do the work for you."

"I bet I could use it," Arya said.

Gendry hooted. "_Really?_" he said in between spurts of laughter. "_You?_ You'd fall over in one swing!"

Arya's eyebrows lowered, and her eye narrowed. "I wouldn't fall over! I could swing it just as easily as you!"

Gendry laughed again. Before anyone could say anything else, Arya heard footsteps coming from the basement stairs. She looked and saw Jeyne approaching. Arya didn't know if anyone else had noticed this, but her hair looked a little disheveled, and a few beads of sweat were at the top of her forehead.

"What's with all the ruckus up here?" Jeyne asked. Weasel then appeared from down the stairs from the second floor of the house, Nymeria following after her.

Ever since Weasel had been rescued, she had been the only other person besides Arya who Nymeria had been taking orders from. Arya wasn't sure as to why that was the case, but she was at least relieved that someone besides her could give Nymeria orders which she actually listened to.

"What's going on?" Weasel asked, looking over the action from behind the railing of the stairs. Nymeria had stopped and was watching them as well.

"Gendry thinks I can't swing his sledgehammer around," Arya explained.

"And you can't," Jeyne said. She spoke again when she saw the look Arya gave her. "Arya, I'm being realistic. You're much better off with that machete, and you have no experience with the sledgehammer."

"I could use it if I wanted to!" Arya called back. Jeyne shook her head, retreated back into the basement, and Arya realized with annoyance how she'd just made herself look.

Arya, deciding to not make the situation worse than it already was, began to walk upstairs. Weasel and Nymeria followed her, and they soon reached their bedroom. There was no more work to be done on the property that day, so Arya figured all they needed to do was eat and call it a night.

In her bedroom, Arya sat across from Weasel. Nymeria was sitting up on the bed at Arya's side. Together, they talked until dinner was ready. Willow came upstairs, knocked on the door, and announced that everything had been prepared. Arya, Weasel, and Nymeria left the room, went downstairs, and ate outside at the picnic table with everyone else. Dinner went as it usually did–people laughed, people joked, Gendry didn't say a word, Arya flung a piece of meat at Nymeria, and the food was all gone by the end of it. During all of this, Arya didn't bring up what had happened earlier in the day in any way whatsoever, and neither did anyone else.

_Need to not make myself look like an idiot,_ Arya thought to herself as she and Weasel went to bed that night.

* * *

Two months later, Arya had left her and Weasel's bedroom to go downstairs and look for Gendry and Hot Pie. Earlier in the week, they had been out hunting with her and Nymeria, and though they had a large (for the group's standards) number of people in a hunting party, they gathered less food than before. Therefore, Arya wanted to talk to them about potentially spreading out into farther areas of the woods to find more food, potentially even going over to Harroway to find animals to hunt. Arya knew that they could still spear fish in the river for food, but that wasn't enough to feed seven people and one dog. Hot Pie had suggested looking for plants to grow, and Jeyne had once mentioned the possibility of breeding animals for food. Arya and Willow, as the authority figures in the group, considered these options, but didn't know how to start doing said things.

Arya, walking down the hallway to the stairs, passed by Jeyne and Willow's bedroom. As she kept moving, she caught a sliver of a private discussion between Jeyne and Willow thanks to their bedroom door being ajar. Jeyne and Willow weren't as quiet as they thought, so Arya was able to hear some of it as she walked towards the stairs from the bedroom.

"Are you sure?" Willow asked.

"Yes, I am. I wanted to tell you first because you're my sister."

There was a pause. "I'm so happy for you two."

Jeyne replied. "Now we have to worry about another m…"

Arya didn't catch the rest of it. She didn't want to listen in on Jeyne and Willow's discussion, so she went back to focusing on finding Gendry and Hot Pie. Arya, reaching the first floor of the house after walking down the stairs, quickly found them talking by the front door.

Hot Pie noticed her first. "Hi, Arya."

"Guys, we need to talk," Arya started.

Hot Pie raised an eyebrow. "Are we in trouble?"

"No, it's about food," Arya replied. "We're running out of it."

Hot Pie had a knowing look appear on his face when Arya said this. Since he and Willow dealt with the food, they would know they were beginning to run out of it. "Yeah, so what do you propose we do?"

"We need to start searching farther," Arya answered. "We're almost out, and we can't solely survive on the fish we catch. And need I remind you that we're in summer right now. Winter is coming. Sure, autumn's between those two, but it's still coming. We barely had enough to survive last winter. We need to start spreading out and look through more areas."

Gendry and Hot Pie glanced at each other. Arya could tell that they were silently communicating with one another that she was right. As they looked back at her, Hot Pie spoke.

"Where do you suggest we go?" Gendry asked.

Arya began to explain everything, every idea she and Willow had shared with one another about improving this situation. After she was done, they debated among themselves about where to go next for food after calling Willow into the room so she could talk about it with them. After a lengthy discussion, they decided to go to Harroway in the coming days, likely two days after their next coming trade with the Brotherhood Without Banners.

* * *

Two days later, Edric and Tom from the Brotherhood Without Banners arrived to trade with those at the house. Arya managed to get a brief period of time to talk to Edric, and they quickly got on the subject of the Brave Companions and the raid on Saltpans from the previous year.

"I'm surprised none of you died," Edric said to Arya.

Arya chuckled in amusement. "We're survived worse. You remember Fairmarket?"

Edric frowned. "How could I forget?"

Realizing that she had made a mistake by bringing up the event that had caused Edric to leave the group in the first place, Arya regretted it. She decided to explain herself. "Sorry, Edric, I didn't mean to–"

"No, it's fine," Edric said, waving it off. "There was nothing we could have done for Elmar. I stopped being angry at Gendry a long time ago."

Arya was relieved. For a second, she thought that Edric would shout at her or something, and she had a few flashes of memories shoot through her mind about that time years ago. The whole group almost dying in Fairmarket, Jaqen showing up, the escape, and Elmar turning and nearly taking a chunk out of Arya's throat. She also brought to mind the many months she experienced falling asleep in the RV thinking that Edric and Gendry would kill each other during the night.

The thought of the years passing by also made Arya realize something: she didn't know how old she was. She also didn't know how old the others were, either. She knew that Gendry was the oldest, and Hot Pie and Lommy were likely a year older than her. Jeyne would likely be second oldest, maybe a year younger than Gendry, and Willow was likely as old as Arya. Weasel was, of course, the youngest, being only two when they first met her. Now she was a number of years older, and Arya knew that because of how tall she was getting, Weasel could have easily passed as someone who was probably twelve or thirteen years old when she was really still in the single digits concerning age.

"So is anything else on your mind?" Arya asked.

"Yeah, Tom mentioned this coming over here, but I'll tell you," Edric said. "I want to warn you: a lot of Gregor Clegane's people from Harrenhal have been spotted around here recently."

Arya's eye widened. "_What?_"

Arya knew what he was talking about. They had narrowly avoided being killed by the men from Harrenhal when they finished off the Brave Companions. She was certain that they would just loot what remained in Saltpans and then leave. But apparently, she was wrong. But what were they doing around Crossroads a year later?

Edric nodded. "Yes, Lem and I got a look at one of their camps when we were out scouting. They're definitely around here."

After a short while, Tom and Edric left, and Arya gathered everyone in the living room of the house, understanding that they needed to know about what was going on. When everyone was present, Arya explained the situation to them. When she was done telling her companions what Edric had told her about the Brotherhood Without Banners finding an encampment set up by men from Harrenhal, Jeyne was the first to speak.

"This is bad, _really bad,_" she said. "I can't believe we didn't expect those barbarians from Harrenhal to go looking for us, but they're here."

"How do you know they're specifically looking for us?" Hot Pie asked, crossing his arms.

"Because that's how they operate," Jeyne answered. "They _MUST_ have seen us when we were getting out of Saltpans. Maybe one of the Brave Companions told them about it, or maybe–"

"One year later, they finally get around to coming for us," Hot Pie cut in. "I don't think–"

"_Exactly!_" Jeyne shouted. "You're not thinking!"

"Hey, don't yell at him!" Willow shouted at Jeyne from the other side of the room. "I agree with you, but we're not going to get hostile with each other!"

Hot Pie looked ashamed after seemingly having caused the shouting match.

Arya looked over at Jeyne. "Is there anything we can do?" She looked over at Willow immediately after she had spoken. "What about you? Willow, do you have any ideas?"

"We all need to be very aware of our surroundings and stay alert," Willow said. "Harrenhal has more people and weapons than the Brave Companions did, and they have the backing of two larger communities. If something happens to them, then both Kings Landing and Casterly Rock will get involved."

"But what does that mean for us?" Lommy asked.

"If they find us, we have two options," Willow answered. "We can stay, hold down the house, and all die in the process. The other option is to abandon the house and run as far away as we can possibly get."

"_No!_" Jeyne shouted back. "I won't abandon everything we've worked for, everything we're expecting, just to die out in the woods somewhere–"

"_WE HAVE NO OTHER OPTIONS!_" Willow screamed. "Believe me, I want to stay here! I want to keep going what we've got going here! But we can't all survive if we try and hold them off when they find us! _We aren't that well-defended, we don't have nearly enough weapons, we're running out of food, and you're–_"

"_OKAY!_" Jeyne shouted loudly, turning to walk away, sniffling, as she began crying. Lommy, noticing this, got up to go and comfort her. As the two of them walked away, Arya turned to face Willow again.

"Is… is that really all we can do?" she asked. "Aside from either run away if they come here, or fortify the house and die defending it?"

"It's not _'if'_, Arya," Willow said, "it's _when_."

"But what if it _is_ 'if'?" Weasel asked. "Maybe they won't find us."

"They will," Willow replied. "If Rorge and them found us, they will."

The discussion ended shortly afterward. Most people parted ways and stayed away from one another for the rest of the day.

* * *

Five days later, Arya entered the house with Nymeria, Gendry, and Hot Pie in tow. They had two whole sacks of food with them. One bag, slung over Gendry's shoulder, was full of dead animals. The one carried by Hot Pie had a bunch of canned food items they'd discovered in Crossroads. Arya thought that they wouldn't find much food there, but they did in the end. Because of the walking distance between Crossroads and Harroway, they had to stay the night in an abandoned house there. They had spent three days out of Crossroads, and it made Arya wish they had a car to use. She figured they couldn't use the RV anymore because they used it for storage.

On the way back, the rain had started, which had pushed them to run. In Crossroads, during the rain, they'd run into a few wights. During the fight, Arya had slipped and fell into a muddy puddle after cleaving through a wight's brain with her machete. Arya's face was streaked with dirt, and that wasn't the end of their misfortunes. Hot Pie had fallen himself during the scuffle and scraped parts of his face, though not badly.

When they walked inside, Arya noticed Jeyne in the living room carrying a cardboard box full of miscellaneous scrap up from the basement. She looked over and noticed them. "Oh! You're back, a– _what happened?!_"

"Several of us fell fighting wights," Arya answered as Nymeria trotted off to somewhere in the house. "Hot Pie got really scraped up there, but I'm just dirty after falling into a muddy puddle."

Jeyne, without saying a word, put the box down and walked over to Hot Pie. "Follow me. I'll dress those wounds," she said, then began to lead him upstairs after Hot Pie dropped his sack of food. As she walked with Hot Pie following her upstairs, she called over her shoulder, "Arya, Lommy wanted to see you. He's in the basement."

Arya glanced over at Gendry, who was now carrying both sacks of food. "Gendry, go take the food to the kitchen. If Willow isn't there, find and notify her."

With the food situation taken care of, Arya began to head downstairs to find Lommy and see what he wanted. Going downstairs, Arya noticed that the basement lights were already on. Entering the basement, it did not take long for her to find Lommy.

"Hi, Arya," he said, grinning as she approached.

"What do you want?" Arya asked. "Jeyne said you wanted to talk to me."

"Yes," he said, then turned to pull something large out from a nearby cabinet. Arya immediately knew that it was a new bomb.

"My new bomb," he said. "I call it 'Devastation'."

"Besides your hobbies, what prompted you to make this?" Arya asked, crossing her arms.

"I talked to Jeyne after that thing with Willow happened last week," he said. "I decided that I agree with her, and it'd be best to defend the house if it comes down to it. I still have that M-16 to shoot at any invaders, and I can make more bombs to put in the yard."

"Like mines?" Arya asked, then thought, _Of course you'd side with Jeyne. You two are practically joined at the hip._ It also made her think of the previous few weeks–Jeyne and Lommy had been unusually happy as of late, and Arya couldn't figure out why.

Lommy grinned again. "Yes, like mines! Guy steps on this, guy goes _boom!_"

"How would that work?" Arya asked.

"I need to get it to work right, though," he answered. "Find out some way to wire it up to make it explode when someone steps on it."

Arya, though she appreciated Lommy wanting to help defend the house in the event they were attacked, knew it would be in vain if even a fraction of the forces from Harrenhal decided to attack the house. He might kill some attackers, but it wouldn't be enough to stop a full on raid. Arya agreed with Willow: it was either defend the house and die, or run and find a new home somewhere else far away. Arya hated having to run away instead of stand her ground, but there were situations where running was necessary.

"Where is it going to go?" Arya asked.

"In front of the fence," Lommy answered. "I'm planning on making at least ten or fifteen of these. Gonna make a whole minefield."

The scenario flickered through Arya's mind: people trying to storm the house only to have their legs blown off as they made moves to jump the barbed wire-wrapped fence. Maybe one explosion would set off a chain reaction and knock out the first round of attackers. Gunfire from the house would help as well, but she knew it wouldn't help at all; if and when Gregor Clegane found them, Arya figured that he would likely attack with perhaps up to fifty people.

"Well I hope you'll get it figured out before we all die," Arya said before turning to leave. She thought, _You'd better not get reckless when they come here, or else something sharp's going to go through your neck._

She heard Lommy snicker from behind her as she began to walk up the stairs. "I will!"

_Stupid,_ Arya thought, annoyed, as she reached the living room. Jeyne, who was nearby, hurried over to her.

"Hello, Jeyne," Arya said.

"Hello," Jeyne replied. "Hot Pie is well. I've finished bandaging him."

"Alright."

"One more thing…" Jeyne said, sounding like she was nervous about saying what she was about to say. "I was curious: was Weasel a handful?"

"What do you mean?" Arya was genuinely curious about what she meant and why she was asking her about this.

"Was… was it difficult for you to… take care of her? I know you first met her at two years old."

Arya paused to think. In those days, Weasel mainly cried and asked for food. Weasel, however, quickly became attached to Arya and didn't leave her side most of the time. Lommy made fun of her, and so did Elmar. She also remembered Weasel's former habit of eating mud and sometimes insects.

"It was… _difficult_ at first, but we taught her to become self-reliant. Honestly, the hard parts came during the first few years, when she needed to be watched at all times, when she needed to be taken care of. I mean I had to teach her how to read and write and how to hunt and use a weapon," Arya answered.

"Anything else?" Jeyne asked.

"Not off the top of my head, no," Arya replied.

"Alright, thanks, Arya," Jeyne said, then disappeared upstairs.

Arya raised an eyebrow. Jeyne asking about Weasel's early years was definitely suspicious to her, but she didn't want to follow Jeyne upstairs to pester her about her reasons for asking her about it. Instead, she thought she would find Weasel and Nymeria and spend the rest of the day with them. Jeyne mentioning Weasel had put this idea in Arya's mind, and she knew Weasel would be happy to see her after being gone for a few days.

* * *

One more week passed without incident, though everyone was still on high alert. Lommy had talked about finding more propane tanks and fertilizer to make more bombs, but Arya didn't know if he'd actually started on looking for more supplies. Arya had made another days long supply run to Harroway with Gendry, Hot Pie, and Nymeria, and while they'd found less food than before, they still found quite a bit of canned food items.

While Willow was happy to see more food, she reminded them that the men from Harrenhal were still in the area. While Arya and her group were gone, members of the Brotherhood Without Banners, which included Edric, had come to trade again. Willow and Lommy had been the ones to meet with them, and Edric had made sure to warn them about the presence of Gregor Clegane and his people in the area. Based on what Edric had said, they were getting closer to the house and definitely knew it was there. Edric had said many things, but Willow explained to Arya and the others that one word in particular had stuck out in Edric's warning to the group.

"Prepare."

Dusk soon came. Arya could tell that, herself included, everyone was on edge after hearing Edric's second warning. She figured that at any moment, the repaired front door would be kicked down, and everyone in the house would be killed. Arya didn't doubt that they'd fight to their last breaths, but it would be mainly fruitless. Even if they killed say twenty people, they would all die in the end in the hypothetical situation.

Arya was currently sitting in her and Weasel's bedroom. Nymeria was on the floor as well, and she watched as Arya sat up at the foot of her bed, staring at the floor.

"Arya, are you okay?" Weasel asked.

"I'll be fine, Weasel," Arya answered. "I… I just need time."

She hoped that would keep Weasel from pressing any further. Arya knew that Weasel knew what was going on. Arya was about to get up to do something else, but a loud noise and shouting coming from the front yard caught her full attention.

Arya's head shot upwards, and her eye widened. She immediately knew what it was, and it was confirmed when Hot Pie burst into her and Weasel's bedroom, AK-47 in hand.

"_Hot Pie, what's going on?!_" Weasel asked, sounding terrified. Nymeria shot upwards, and Arya jumped off the bed, immediately reaching for her machete.

"They're here," Hot Pie answered, his eyes wide. "People from Harrenhal. We need to run out through the back door."

"We can't fight?" Weasel asked.

Hot Pie shook his head, looking terrified. "Gendry got a look outside. He says it looks like there are maybe fifty people out there. It looks like all of them are armed."

Arya, machete in hand, hurried out of the door with Weasel, who had grabbed a large knife. Nymeria followed after. Arya, hurrying downstairs with the three with her, found everyone else in the living room. Willow and Jeyne were busy stuffing backpacks full of canned food, and Lommy and Gendry were at the front, behind the door. Gendry had his sledgehammer in hand, and Lommy had his M-16 with him as well as his spear. Everyone on the first floor had a backpack on, and Arya understood that they were on their way out. Also present in the living room was Lommy's latest bomb, Devastation.

"What's going on?" Arya asked.

"They're out there," Gendry answered. "One of them demanded we come out."

"And what did you do?"

Lommy answered. "I said _'Over our dead bodies'_ pretty loudly."

"_Lommy!_" Arya shouted.

Nearby, Jeyne had finished stuffing her backpack full of all the canned food she could fit in there. Her crossbow was on a nearby counter, and she grabbed it and approached. Willow was still busy filling her own backpack, and Arya noticed her shotgun close by where the crossbow had been.

"Have they done anything else?" Arya asked as she turned her head to look out the window. Her heart lurched into her throat as she saw the sheer number of people outside. It looked like they were awaiting orders and perhaps talking among themselves.

And then they started shouting. Some of them began running towards the house, and one threw a Molotov cocktail, which landed in front of one of the windows. Another was thrown, and it broke through the other. Flames began to spread through the hallway and into the living room immediately, and Arya began yelling.

"_WE NEED TO GO RIGHT NOW!_"

Willow grabbed her shotgun as Lommy grabbed Devastation, and they all ran past the stairs towards the back of the house. Arya heard several firearms go off from outside, and it sounded to her like the people outside were shooting into the house. This made Arya quicken her pace. Gendry was the first one to the back door, and he practically tore it off its hinges as he threw it open. Everyone hurried out into the backyard, and Arya only once looked back to look at the burning house. She felt like Gregor Clegane's men would start looking around the back of the house, and that made her feel alarmed, which pushed her to run as fast as she could.

"_DON'T LOOK BACK, JUST RUN!_" Arya screamed as they headed for the wooded area behind the Heddles' home.

* * *

For the next several days, the group ran through the woods. They made it to the outskirts of Crossroads after escaping from the burning house, and they went south from there. The group didn't make it to Harroway, but they kept going south. Nobody had time to grab a map, so besides "south", they had no idea where they were going. Arya remembered that Harroway was south, so she figured that they must have passed it by then. Arya wished they had a vehicle to drive in that was large enough for all eight of them, but that was currently not an option.

It was the middle of the day when Arya felt a familiar tug at her shirt. Arya glanced over and saw Weasel there.

"Arya, my feet hurt," she complained.

"Yeah, I need to stop, too," Jeyne said as soon as Weasel had finished talking. Based on the tone of her voice, Arya figured that she was waiting for an opening to express a desire to stop moving for a while. Arya herself didn't want to stop; she felt like the men from Harrenhal would find them if they stopped. Arya took a look to her right and saw that they were close to a two lane road going through the woods, likely forty-nine feet away from them all.

Arya wondered if Jeyne wanted to stop so she could vomit. Arya had noticed that, for some time, Jeyne had been getting sick every few days. She hoped that Jeyne hadn't picked something up during their flight from the house, and it made Arya wonder why nobody else caught whatever it was that she had from her.

_The last thing we need is everyone getting sick,_ she thought, then said, "Okay, we'll stop here for the day."

Relieved, everyone stopped. The group put their backpacks in a pile with Devastation nearby them. For a while, they sat in a circle and talked among themselves. As a few hours drew on, Arya wanted to get up and run again, get far away from anywhere where Gregor Clegane's men could be. However, some people had different ideas.

"We need to go hunting again," Jeyne said. "We should gather some food before he head on out."

"We have enough," Arya said. "We've eaten barely anything of our canned food."

"What about Nymeria, though?" Lommy asked. "She can't eat any of the canned stuff. She needs meat."

They had another discussion where Arya suggested just picking up and running after their rest instead of going hunting. People agreed, and people disagreed. In the end, it was brought to a vote. The majority, consisting of Jeyne, Lommy, Hot Pie, and Willow, voted to go hunting while Arya, Gendry, and Weasel voted the opposite.

"Okay," Arya said. "Jeyne, Willow, you'll stay here with Nymeria and try to get a fire ready. Keep the bomb and backpacks away from it. The rest of us are going to hunt for food."

"Alright, then let's head on out," Hot Pie said.

Willow approached Hot Pie. She firmly patted him on the shoulder. "Go get us some food."

Jeyne approached Lommy and hugged him, kissing his cheek before speaking. "Be careful out there."

"We will," Lommy promised as he hugged her back.

Arya approached Nymeria. Nymeria looked up at her as Arya spoke to her. "Nymeria, you stay."

Nymeria stayed.

After everything was taken care of at the temporary encampment of the group, Arya, Gendry, Hot Pie, Lommy, and Weasel all began to venture deeper into the woods. Though Arya would much rather continue running south, she understood that the majority of the group wanted to find food, and Nymeria potentially starving was a genuine concern she herself had.

* * *

"Just like old times, right, Arya?" Lommy said, grinning as he gripped his spear in one hand. His M-16 was strapped to his back. Hot Pie still had his AK-47 with him.

Now that Arya thought about it, it _was_ like old times. She and Gendry, Hot Pie, Lommy, and Weasel all scouting for food like when Weasel was a toddler. However, Arya was not nostalgic for this time; it reminded her of being in a constant state of fear and thinking that death was potentially around every corner. And while death really could be around every corner, Arya and her companions were no longer the scared children they once were.

"I guess it is," Arya replied.

They'd been walking for a while, but none of them had found any live animals anywhere. Arya was beginning to feel as if they wouldn't find anything. Still, she felt as if she needed to at least try. At least until it got dark out.

After they kept searching for thirty minutes, they found a deer. It was a big buck that'd been walking by itself when the group stumbled upon it. Not hesitating, Hot Pie approached, aimed the AK-47 at the deer, and fired. Because of where he was in the crowd of people, he didn't hit the buck in the heart or throat, but instead in its leg and hindquarters. As it partly both limped and ran away, Arya pulled out her machete and charged with the four others with her. However, before they could get close, someone called over to them from the nearby road.

"_HEY!_"

Everyone turned their heads to look and, to Arya's horror, she saw the same people who'd attacked the house. They were the same people from Harrenhal who'd wiped out the remainder of the Brave Companions in Saltpans. Currently, fifteen armed men were charging towards them from the street, and more were starting to get out of cars and armored vehicles.

"_GET AWAY FROM US!_" Lommy screamed as he pulled out his M-16 and began firing. Hot Pie began shooting as well while Arya, Gendry, and Weasel began to make moves to run away. Hot Pie and Lommy noticed, and as people fell dead, they turned to hurry after Arya, Gendry, and Weasel.

They ran for a while. Every now and then, Hot Pie and Lommy turned around to shoot at their growing number of attackers. Arya hoped that they hadn't found Jeyne, Willow, and Nymeria back at the encampment. Arya also hated this whole situation; things had started to look up for them when they found the buck, and now they would likely be separated from everyone else.

A short while later, they found themselves in the middle of a small clearing. Lommy and Hot Pie still fired into the woods, and they soon ran over to Arya, Gendry, and Weasel to group up with them. Arya felt someone grab her shoulder, and she turned to see one of their attackers. Quickly, she rammed her machete into his heart, and he fell dead. Nearby, Gendry's sledgehammer slammed into the side of the face of someone else, just as two more appeared from nearby. All over, people were pouring into the clearing. Weasel, now genuinely frightened, stabbed into someone's abdomen before stabbing them in the back of the neck. Lommy and Hot Pie kept shooting, and Gendry tried to fight a group of men that was progressively getting bigger every second and were beginning to overpower him.

Weasel's voice was panicked. "_We're surrounded!_"

Weasel jerked around for a bit, likely not knowing what to do, then she broke from the group and just ran, making a mad dash into the woods north of them all. Arya tried to reach out and grab her, likely knowing she was running right into her own death, but she wasn't quick enough and just barely made contact with a bit of her hair.

_Run, Weasel,_ Arya thought as Weasel disappeared into the trees, hoping she'd make it out okay. _Run as fast as you can, run and never come back._

A large, armored, black van had pulled into the woods behind the group as they continued to fight the people from Harrenhal. Gendry swung a hard punch and dislocated a man's jaw. Arya slashed someone's throat open with her machete as another grabbed the back of her shirt at the same time. Hot Pie ran out of ammo and instead hit someone in the face with the butt of his AK. Lommy had reloaded his own weapon and began shooting again.

And then someone shot back. Lommy screamed as he fell after a few bullets shot through the leg that wasn't made of wood, one hitting his knee on the same leg as well. Though on the ground, he kept shooting into the woods. Nearby, Hot Pie yelled as the AK-47 was wrestled away from him, and another man tackled his fat form. Gendry had his sledgehammer taken from him by then, and he was in the process of having his hands tied behind his back after he'd been forced to the ground. Arya was still fighting fiercely. She sliced someone's fingers off as she bit someone else's forearm hard enough to draw blood.

And then someone hit Arya in the back of the head hard enough to disorient her so her machete could be taken from her. As she herself was forced to the ground, she felt her own hands being tied behind her back. The same thing was happening to Hot Pie, and Lommy was still yelling and shooting.

And then Lommy ran out of bullets, and he had no replacement magazine. Now desperate, he reached for his spear, but a larger man grabbed the shaft of the spear and yanked it out of his gloved hand. By then, from right to left, Arya, Gendry, and Hot Pie had been lined up on their knees next to the van. Lommy was farther away from the three of them, looking up at the man who'd taken his spear from him.

"_ATTENTION!_" a high, thin voice shouted. All of the men turned to see a portly man with a pig-like face enter the circle the men from Harrenhal had made in the clearing. Arya saw no sign of Weasel anywhere, but she did get an eyeful of this new arrival. Arya figured he was someone important, hence all of the body armor he was wearing and the respect the other men gave him.

The portly man with the pig-like face stepped in front of Arya, Gendry, and Hot Pie. "My name is Amory Lorch," he said. "From here on out, all of you are prisoners of Gregor Clegane of Harrenhal. Now Dunsen, prepare our return to Harrenhal. Raff, you deal with the prisoners."

Amory stepped away, and Arya watched as Raff, the man who'd taken Lommy's spear, grabbed the latter by the throat and began to violently drag him over to the others. While they moved, Lommy clawed at Raff's arm, but Raff didn't seem to care. Raff spiked Lommy to the ground in front of Arya.

"_YOU'LL NEVER TAKE US!_" Lommy screamed up at Raff.

Raff snickered. "And what will you do, then? _Bleed on me?_ You on your own killed twenty-three of us."

Lommy's eyes narrowed. Though he couldn't stand in his current state, he sat up, glared at Raff, and spat on one of his boots.

Raff looked unamused, then briefly looked down at his bleeding leg wounds. "Can you walk?" Raff asked.

"No," Lommy answered defiantly. "_Guess you have to carry me._"

Raff didn't say a word, just tightly gripped his new spear and powerfully thrusted it into the front of Lommy's throat. Arya didn't flinch, and neither did Gendry. Hot Pie audibly gasped and trembled. Lommy, in desperation, gripped the shaft of the spear and tried pulling it back. Raff, annoyed, harshly jerked the spear to the right, cutting through Lommy's left jugular vein. Lommy's blood went flying, and it found itself spattered across Arya's face.

Lommy, gagging and trying to crawl away, had flipped over after having his throat cleaved open. He didn't get far. Raff walked over and rammed the head of the spear into the back of Lommy's neck. There was a wet crackling noise as Raff yanked the spear free after planting his left boot down on the back of his target's head to help pull the spear free, and Lommy went limp on the ground. As more of Lommy's blood pooled around his body, Raff turned to walk to the hostages as someone else from the crowd went to retrieve the M-16.

"Wow, I never thought he'd shut up," Raff joked. Several men laughed. Arya wanted to tear them apart, and she felt like Gendry was thinking the same thing. Hot Pie was too terrified to move.

Raff approached and, one by one, led the prisoners into the back of the armored van. First, Hot Pie. Second, Gendry. Third, they came for Arya. Arya didn't fight Raff as he grabbed her and yanked her to her feet. The only thing she could do was hope Weasel had gotten away.


	14. Night of The Living Dead (2017)

**NOTE:** This is (and will be) the longest chapter of the story; it is a few hundred words longer than chapter twelve.

* * *

**Chapter Fourteen:**

**Night of The Living Dead (2017)**

* * *

In the back of the van, Arya realized something. As it was driven through the woods and back to the road, the driver made a left turn, and Arya then made a mental note that they were going south. Earlier, her group had been running south to flee the men who'd burned down the house, and now they were in said men's clutches. Because of the direction where the van had turned, Arya realized two things. One, they had been walking towards Harrenhal all along. Two, because of this, they had been unknowingly working against themselves the whole time. And now Lommy was dead because of it. It made things worse for her because his blood, though it was now drying, was still on her face.

Arya wanted to break out, and she was certain that both Gendry and Hot Pie felt the same. However, even if one of them were to slam themselves against the back doors of the van, whoever was driving would pull over to the side of the road, drag out whoever was causing the trouble, and execute them on the spot, leaving their body out there as they drove off. Therefore, they could do nothing except sit on their knees and silently stare at each other as they were shipped off to Harrenhal.

On the way south, Arya thoughts returned to Weasel, as well as Jeyne, Willow, and Nymeria. Arya hoped that they'd all gotten away or, in the case of the latter three, had never been discovered at all. As day drew on into dusk, Gendry glanced over at Arya and spoke for the first time in a while.

"Arya," he said, "we need to do something–"

"_SHUT UP BACK THERE!_" someone from up front shouted. Nobody said anything for the rest of the ride to Harrenhal. They arrived to their destination half a day later after Gendry had been shouted at. One man opened the back of the truck, and several armed guards yanked them out of the back.

Getting an eyeful of where they now were, Arya could see that they were currently in the middle of what looked like a parking lot. A number of large buildings were scattered around the surrounding area, and walls with ramparts and towers on every corner enclosed where they were. Without anyone having to tell her, Arya knew that they were in Harrenhal. The whole place smelled like death and, as she and Gendry and Hot Pie were escorted at gunpoint to somewhere else, Arya decided to look around at their surroundings in Harrenhal.

Mainly, armed men were moving to and fro. Some were carrying boxes and others looked to be on guard duty. Some glared at them, and others ignored them. As they kept walking, Arya noticed a number of men gathered around an older man with a kind face. Arya soon put two and two together in her mind as she realized who this must have been: Qyburn, one of the Brave Companions. The man looked incredibly close to Weasel's description of him from when she was a prisoner in Saltpans, and Arya supposed it would have made sense if Gregor Clegane's men had decided to spare him. He was, apparently, a medic, and he would definitely be useful. Arya listened as Qyburn spoke to the men around him.

"So, when the patient woke up, he was missing a few organs, and the doctor had vanished."

A few of the men chuckled. Others grinned. Qyburn continued. "So that was how I lost my medical license."

The men around Qyburn all burst into a loud fit of laughter. Arya didn't think he was joking.

Arya, Gendry, and Hot Pie were all ushered down into a basement-like structure which was used as a jail. There were several other prisoners in various cells, and Arya thought one motionless figure that had cockroaches scurrying around them was dead. One reached out from his cell, grabbed Hot Pie by the front of his shirt, and yanked him towards the bars of said cell. One of the guards, aggravated by this, practically tore the cell door open and charged in with another guard. Both proceeded to beat the prisoner senseless as Arya, Gendry, and Hot Pie were ushered further down the hall.

In the end, their bindings were removed, and Arya was thrown into a cell across another where Gendry and Hot Pie were both kept. The men left, and a minute later, Amory Lorch appeared in the jail.

"You'll stay here until we have need of labor," he explained. "If you refuse to cooperate, you will be killed. If you try to escape, you will be killed. If you try and call for help, _you will be killed_."

Amory did not say anything else. He turned and left.

* * *

Weeks passed. As time went on, Arya paid as much attention to her surroundings as possible and what was going on around her. Arya, Gendry, and Hot Pie were given little food and water every three days, and it made Arya wonder if she was in a similar situation as Weasel when she was a prisoner of the Brave Companions.

There was a small window in the wall of her cell which provided sunlight to come in, and Arya could hear people talking among themselves. She picked up on a lot of people's names, but the most notable to her were Polliver, Chiswyck, Raff, Amory Lorch, and Dunsen. She had already encountered Raff, Dunsen, and Amory Lorch. She despised all of them equally, but she felt a deeper hatred for the jailer of Harrenhal: Weese.

Weese came in every day, and he loudly threatened every one of the prisoners. One of them further down the hall presumed to threaten him. Arya, Gendry, and Hot Pie listened as Weese threw the cell door open, pulled out the crowbar he used as a nightstick, and beat the prisoner senseless. By the end of it, Arya had heard what sounded like gagging and spitting up blood.

After this happened, Arya watched in angry silence as Weese made his way down the hall. She took notice of the angry-looking, large boils bunched up in one of the ends of his mouth. Gendry and Hot Pie did the same as Weese's squat form passed by them, turned around, then walked back the way he came. Weese's head turned to glance at Arya as she watched him walk by her. He stopped, then glared.

"Why are you looking at me?" he hissed.

Arya didn't know how to respond to that.

"_WHY ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME?!_" Weese screamed upon noticing Arya's lack of an answer. He began to unlock the door, slamming it open when it was fully unlocked. Before Arya could move two feet, Weese swung the crowbar, hit her in the side, then rammed it into her torso, right under where the stomach would be. Arya yelled and fell to the cold stone floor. Groaning, she tried to get up, only to be kicked in the same spot where she'd been hit with the crowbar.

Arya glanced up at her assailant, and he looked like he wanted to kill someone. It reminded Arya of Rorge when he attacked the house. Weese, shaking and with a red, livid face, stamped down on her again. Arya groaned as Weese addressed her again.

"_You want another?!_" he roared. "_You'll get it! I'll have NONE of your insolent looks! If you want to eat tonight, you'll get NOTHING if you do anything more_!"

Arya avoided of looking into Weese's face and remained silent as he stood there for a few moments before leaving. When she heard him shuffling away back down the hallway after the door to her cell had been locked, Arya got up and walked over to address Gendry and Hot Pie.

Gendry was the first one to speak. "I saw what happened, and so did Hot Pie," he said. "He's fortunate I wasn't with you. I'd have broken his neck for hitting you with a crowbar."

Arya knew that both she and Gendry could likely overpower and disarm Weese in seconds. This hadn't been the first time Arya had been hit by Weese, but this had been her most violent encounter with him. He had threatened both Gendry and Hot Pie in the past, but he'd never hit them. Arya figured it was mainly because Gendry stayed quiet and kept his head down, and Hot Pie just tried to hide himself in the corner of his and Gendry's shared cell.

Arya briefly thought about what might've happened if Lommy had been spared and brought along with them. It was likely that he'd have his tongue torn out or even be killed if he'd threatened and disrespected Weese like what he'd done with Raff when he spat on his boot. Arya missed Lommy, and she wanted justice for him, but she couldn't help but think that his death had been a mercy compared to what he might have faced in Harrenhal if he'd been taken along.

Weese didn't return for the rest of the day. Arya was still hurting after what had happened, so she figured she could just try to get some rest and hope that she, Gendry, and Hot Pie would find an opportunity to escape Harrenhal and regroup with the others.

* * *

A day later, Arya was still feeling sore after Weese had beaten her with the crowbar. She felt herself tense up when she heard the now familiar sound of Weese entering the jail. Arya, Gendry, and Hot Pie listened as Weese dealt with the other prisoners there. Some were beaten, and Arya was certain she heard someone being killed. Arya knew that Weese was what she called "killing mad", and she understood she had to try as hard as possible to not provoke Weese and make him more angry than he already was.

Weese, as he made his way down the hall, stopped in front of Arya's cell, turning to face her. "What is your name?"

Arya made sure to not look at his face when she answered. "Arya."

Weese unlocked the door and approached her. "Arya, you're needed outside. We're going to put you to work today."

Weese escorted her out of the cell, and Arya found two armed guards in the hallway waiting for her. Arya understood they were there as assurance that she wouldn't run away. As Weese and the two men began leading her out of the jail, Weese turned his head to call over to Gendry and Hot Pie. "I'll be coming back for you two later!"

Arya didn't know if this meant that they would be killed or made to work, but she couldn't focus on them now. She walked out of the jail and into the sunlight. Arya was led to what looked like a town square with six other people there. Arya figured they were other prisoners, but she didn't get a good look at the other prisoners besides Gendry and Hot Pie as she was being led in on their first day. Armed guards were all around, and Weese was gone by then, likely going back to the jail to address Gendry and Hot Pie.

Arya paid attention to the man at the front of the group, Polliver, who began to address them. "Alright, you! You are all going to be carrying supplies to our warehouses. Anybody who steps out of line will be shot!"

Polliver directed the prisoners towards a large pile of cardboard boxes. After giving them directions to where the warehouses were, Arya was among the first people to grab a box and begin to walk. Walking north out of the square she was in with a few others, Arya was now finally able to get a look at the main area of Harrenhal, which she had spent weeks looking out on from the window in her underground cell. People were moving to and fro, and Arya got a look at the tall buildings around the part of a small city which had been claimed as land belonging to Harrenhal. Arya understood that she was only going to be used for general labor until she was killed by someone. Therefore, she didn't want to speed up the process by angering someone into being violent by looking at them like what had happened with Weese.

Making her way to the warehouses in the northernmost areas of the colony of Harrenhal, she noticed something in the ground butting up against one of the buildings: it was a pit, and it was full of wights. Arya, though she did not show any of her emotions, knew that the brutes running Harrenhal used it for execution. Arya would not have been surprised if some of the wights in the large pit were once prisoners like her.

They made it to the warehouses after a short while. Arya included, the seven prisoners went to stacking the supplies into one of the warehouses. When she put them where they needed to be, she knew what she had to do: immediately go back to the pile where Polliver was located, take another box, and go back. Arya arrived back to the square she had been in and grabbed a second box without saying another word.

This continued for a few hours until Arya and another prisoner returned to the boxes. It was here when she got a second good look at Polliver. He was nearly as tall as Sandor Clegane, and now that she got a better look at him, he was the one who had taken her machete from her weeks earlier. She'd only caught a sliver of his face during the scuffle in the woods, but now she was sure it was him.

Polliver must have noticed that Arya had looked at his face for a while. He addressed her, saying, "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing, sorry," Arya replied.

Polliver was unamused. He marched over to Arya, grabbed her by the face, and spiked her to the ground. He kicked her a few times when she was on the ground. Arya wanted to get up and claw his eyes out, but she couldn't because of the armed guards around. Afterward, Weese arrived to bring her back to her cell.

When Weese opened the door, he shoved her inside and slammed the cell door shut behind her, locking it immediately afterwards. Arya sat up and waited for Weese to leave. When he was gone, Arya stood up and walked to the bars of her cell, hoping to see Gendry and Hot Pie across from her.

"Gendry?" Arya called. "Hot Pie? Are either of you there?"

There was no answer. Arya realized that they were either dead or doing work. She hoped it was the latter.

As the day drew on, Arya just tried as best as she could to kill time in her cell. Mainly, she listened to people work outside through her window. She paid close attention as two men stopped to have a discussion outside of said window. Because of the sound of the voice of one of the men, Arya could tell that it was Amory. The other one she didn't recognize.

"So what is it, then?" Amory asked. "That's what you're worried about? Need I remind you we are a colony of both Kings Landing and Casterly Rock?"

"Sir, you must understand that we might be slightly unprepared for an attack of this magnitude–"

"So?" Amory snapped. "Chiswyck, I understand you've done some scouting with Dunsen and a few others, but what harm can so many dead men do?"

"This wasn't like a group of five or seven, sir. All of the wights… it was like an ocean of them, and they're all headed this way."

Amory snickered. "Our walls are pretty fortified, Chiswyck. It's not like when we raided Saltpans last year."

There was a pause. "With all due respect, sir, you don't understand this like I do. You didn't see all of them."

There was another pause. Amory sounded angry when he spoke again. "_Chiswyck, Gregor and I know what we're doing! We don't need the input of someone near the bottom of the food chain, and if you whine to me again, I'll have you given to Qyburn for him to experiment on!_"

Chiswyck and Amory parted ways. Arya picked up on several things during her time listening to Amory and Chiswyck's conversation, and these things were that a massive swarm of wights were coming Harrenhal's way (the whole idea of this reminded her of Fairmarket, but only with more wights possibly being involved), there was likely tension among the people at Harrenhal, and the confirmation that Qyburn was both alive and indeed there at Harrenhal, having been spared by Gregor Clegane's men likely because of his potential usefulness as someone with medical expertise.

An hour before dusk, Weese came back, escorting both Gendry and Hot Pie back into their own cell across from Arya. Neither of them looked bruised, but they looked tired instead. Weese locked the door after they both got inside, loudly promised death if they tried to escape, and left. When they were certain that Weese had left for the night, they got to talking.

"Where were you?" Arya asked, then explained what she herself had been doing all day outside of the jail. "I was carrying boxes to the warehouses all day. Polliver knocked me down and kicked me repeatedly at the end."

Gendry was the first to speak. "They had me in their weapon storage area organizing things," he explained. "There were a few other prisoners in there with me. I saw my hammer and your machete in there."

Hot Pie spoke up next. "One man asked me what I'm good at, and I said making food. So they ushered me into a building, and they had me making food all day. They threatened me a few times, and they said they'd cut one of my hands off if they caught me stealing food."

"I overheard a conversation before you two arrived," Arya revealed. "Just outside the window of my cell, Chiswyck and Amory Lorch were talking. They said that there's a massive swarm of wights coming this way."

"How big?" Hot Pie asked, sounding nervous.

"I don't know," Arya answered. "Chiswyck just said that it was like an 'ocean' of them."

"Then what are we going to do?" Gendry asked.

Arya was quiet for a moment. "_I… I don't know…_"

* * *

The next day, Weese escorted Arya out of her cell again after shouting at her and hitting her in the chest with his crowbar for being "lazy" during the previous day. From what Arya could gather, Polliver had told Weese about what'd happened during the previous day. Arya mentally promised herself to not make any more mistakes like that again, though the people in Harrenhal would likely hit her again regardless.

Unlike before, Weese was in front of her as he escorted her out of the cell to do work for Harrenhal that day, and the armed guards were behind her this time. Because of this, she was able to get a better look at Weese without him hitting her again. From what Arya could tell, when comparing Weese to others she'd met in the apocalypse, he looked to be about half of Rorge in terms of muscle, though he was squat. Arya knew for sure that say she and Gendry could take on Weese and win if he were by himself. Arya despised Weese, and she would not be sad to see him go if he died.

On this day, Arya had been brought before Dunsen instead of Polliver with a number of other prisoners, around ten people this time. When everyone had been gathered, Dunsen addressed them. He said they would be taking measures to repair parts of the southernmost wall. Arya, not saying a word, took her supplies with the other prisoners with her and left. Nearing the wall, Arya noticed in her peripheral vision that Weese was in the process of leading Gendry up out of the jail towards wherever, likely the weapon storage area again. Arya didn't stop to wait and see if Hot Pie would be led out next. She had a job to do, and plus, Weese was right there and would most definitely see her and later beat her with his crowbar if he saw her not doing her job.

Arya got to work. She and the other prisoners were tasked with hammering metal sheets to the places in the wall where there were holes and empty patches. Arya thought she saw a few bullet holes in the wall here and there, but she wasn't sure. All she needed to do was focus on repairing the wall. While she was working, Arya noticed that Harrenhal was in the shape of a square, and each corner of the wall had a tower, likely watchtowers. There were two passageways on each tower, one connecting to the other. It reminded Arya of castle ramparts.

While she worked, Arya hardly said anything and only spoke to the others when she needed something or when she herself was addressed. During all of this, Arya thought about those who had been left in the woods, namely Jeyne, Willow, Weasel, and Nymeria. Out of all of them, Arya figured that Weasel was the one who was most likely dead. But there was a chance that she'd made it out alive. Arya theorized that the only hope of herself, Gendry, and Hot Pie was the four that weren't taken. The scenario flickered through her mind: two women, one little girl, and a German Shepherd traveling far to break them out of Harrenhal. Arya hoped that the Brotherhood Without Banners would get involved somewhere and assist them with breaking Arya, Gendry, and Hot Pie out, but there seemed to be no sign of them anywhere near Harrenhal. All Arya could do was hope.

As the day drew on, Arya and the other prisoners finished their work. Dunsen, who had been overseeing the work, ordered them all to line up against the wall with their backs pressed against it, facing him, when a number of people arrived from the main area of Harrenhal. Before anything else could happen, Arya saw a new face approach from nearby. Accompanying this newcomer were various people, including Chiswyck, the Tickler, Raff, Qyburn, Weese, and Polliver. The newcomer himself was the tallest man Arya had ever seen, even taller than Sandor Clegane and Rorge. He was mostly composed of pure muscle, and he reminded her of a mountain. Arya didn't have to be told that this man was Gregor Clegane.

He spoke. Gregor's loud, intimidating voice sounded like boulders being broken. "Raff, which one was it?!" he demanded.

All of them, Gregor included, were armed with a variety of weapons. Arya, usually brave in the face of danger, was almost too terrified to move. She stayed ramrod still as Raff answered.

"That one there," he answered, pointing at someone. He sounded angry. "That one's the thief."

One of the prisoners next to Arya shuddered, then tried to run. Chiswyck, though he was an older man, was quick, caught the offending prisoner, and punched them in the face hard enough to knock them down. Polliver, Weese, and Raff hurried over to hit the thief as well. After watching several minutes of this, Gregor approached, and his men stepped away. He lifted the thief up by the front of his shirt and began screaming into the thief's face.

"YOU WANT TO STEAL FROM US!? FROM _ME?!_"

The prisoner groaned in response. Gregor continued. "_NORMALLY, I'D CRUSH YOUR SKULL WITH MY BARE HANDS AFTER MASHING YOUR TEETH IN, AND YOU WON'T BE THE FIRST MAN I'VE KILLED IN SUCH A MANNER! HOWEVER, QYBURN AND THE TICKLER MIGHT HAVE SOME USE FOR YOU!_"

The thief, shaking and clearly afraid, was dropped by Gregor. Qyburn and the Tickler, each with an eager look on their faces, hurried over to the thief, grabbed either arm, and dragged him away. Arya knew that the thief would be tortured to death; from what she had learned from her time in Harrenhal, the Tickler and Qyburn liked to torture people for fun. It reminded her of Shagwell.

Arya and the other prisoners who had been working on the wall watched as the thief was dragged away. When he and Qyburn and the Tickler were out of sight, Gregor Clegane turned to face those lined up against the wall who had not just been dragged off.

Gregor proceeded to roar at them. "_IF ANY OF YOU HAVE ANY THOUGHTS OF STEALING, THEN I'LL CUT YOUR HANDS OFF AND GIVE THEM TO THE MAN NEXT TO YOU AND GIVE HIM FOUR HANDS! IF HE STEALS, THE NEXT MAN WILL HAVE SIX!_"

Gregor left with most of them, but Dunsen stayed behind. "Get back to work!" he ordered. Not wanting to be next, Arya turned around and continued her work with the other prisoners.

Arya and the other prisoners worked for the next few hours before she and the other prisoners were escorted by Weese and a number of armed guards back into the cells below Harrenhal. Arya noticed that, like before, she had returned to the jail before Gendry and Hot Pie. It was almost dusk when they were returned to their own cell. Hot Pie had a bruise on the right side of his face, and Arya decided to ask about it once Weese had left the jail for the night.

"Hot Pie," she said as she approached the edge of her cell. "Hot Pie, what happened to your face?"

"Polliver," he answered. "I nearly tripped and fell while carrying a box for him, and he hit me. He almost drew blood, I think."

"He didn't," Arya said. "Gendry and I can see a massive bruise on your face there."

"Huh," Hot Pie replied, rubbing the wounded part of his face where he'd been struck. "What happened to you today?"

Arya paused to gather her thoughts. "I saw Gregor Clegane today. A whole bunch of his people were with him, and they said someone working on the wall with me was stealing. Two of them, Qyburn and the Tickler, dragged him away." She didn't continue; she didn't have to explain that said thief was now dead.

"Qyburn?" Gendry said. "As in the Brave Companions member?"

Arya nodded. "Yes, he was here."

"I thought they all died when Saltpans was attacked," Hot Pie said.

"Weasel said he's a healer of sorts, like their version of Jeyne," Arya explained. "They must have spared him for his potential usefulness to them."

"Lovely," Gendry sighed. "Now we have another sadistic man to be concerned about."

Arya knew that Gendry's concerns were understandable. Gregor, Qyburn, Polliver, the Tickler, Weese, all of them were horrifying people, and Arya wanted nothing to do with them. If she could have her way, she would personally tear all of them limb from limb. What happened to their home in Crossroads and later what happened to Lommy frequently played out in her dreams when she fell asleep on the dirty floor of her cell every night. It didn't help that Lommy's blood was still partly flecked on her face. A good amount of it had dried and peeled off on its own, but a notable amount of it was still there.

There was a pause before anyone said anything else. The next person to speak was Hot Pie. "So are we just going to die in here? They'll work us until they have no more use for us?"

Arya believed that Hot Pie's idea of what those in charge of Harrenhal wanted with them was true. They would be used for labor until they had no more use of them or until one of them slipped up somewhere along the line to give them an excuse to kill them all one by one.

"No and yes," Arya replied. "Yes, they're going to use us for their labor until they have no more need of us. We need to get out of here still. Maybe Willow and Weasel and–"

"No, stop," Hot Pie said in an unamused tone of voice as he began to slink back into the deeper parts of his cell. "Arya, we have little to no chance of making it out of here. And even if Willow and them find us, what are they going to do? Stare at the outside wall, be spotted by a guardsman, and be brought down here with us?"

Hot Pie didn't say anything else for the rest of the night. Gendry and Arya, both reading the room, didn't say anything else, either and decided to get some sleep.

* * *

The next day, like before, Weese came for Arya first and brought her out of the jail to do work. He did not hit her this time, though Arya knew to not step out of line, even a little. Weese was likely ready to snap at the drop of a hat at any moment like he usually was, and Arya wanted nothing of what he handed out. There were armed guards present like always, and Arya knew that despite Weese's current lack of common hostile behavior, the guards would kill her if she tried to run away at all.

Arya was led to the main open area of Harrenhal. She looked around to attempt to notice any sign of what was likely to come, and she soon found more boxes. Polliver was there to direct the work like before, and Arya–accompanied by nine other prisoners–were meant to carry boxes to the warehouses like before. Arya got right to work after Polliver's instructions had finished being given to the prisoners who would be working.

After a few hours of this work, Arya returned to the main area of Harrenhal to find a big crowd forming up. Before Arya could reach the boxes, an armed guard grabbed her and shoved her towards the crowd. Normally, Arya would have fought back, but this man was armed with a firearm, and Arya knew she had to head over to the crowd.

As she got closer, she noticed several people she recognized: Amory, the Tickler, Polliver, Qyburn, and Gregor Clegane himself. She then briefly took a look at the crowd she was in and saw Hot Pie there among them. There was no sign of Gendry anywhere. Arya took another look at Gregor and his people and saw several prisoners, four of them, all beaten and bloodied, lined up against the nearest wall. It was also notable that the wight pit in Harrenhal was close by. Arya could likely throw a stone and hit one of the wights within in the head if she had the opportunity.

One of the four prisoners was led forward. Gregor glared down at him, and the Tickler approached, large knife in hand.

"I understand you've been stealing from us," the Tickler said angrily. Now Arya understood what was going on: these prisoners lined up before them were all likely involved with the same theft situation the other prisoner from the other day had been tortured to death for. And now the four of them were going to be made examples of in front of everyone else.

"_Wh… yes, I was…_" the prisoner admitted. Arya figured that he knew there was no sense in hiding his involvement with the stealing if he'd been caught red handed.

For the next nine minutes, the Tickler brutalized the prisoner in front of everyone, asking him questions related to the theft. By the end of it, Arya wanted to take the Tickler's knife from him, stab him repeatedly, and see if he liked being tortured and screamed at until they were dead. By the end of it, the prisoner had died, and the second came up.

The second prisoner became hostile immediately. They spit in the Tickler's face, and Gregor himself approached and swung a hard punch, knocking the prisoner down. Half of their teeth were splintered, and their nose had been smushed. Gregor approached, understanding that the prisoner was likely dead, and broke their neck to finish them off after lifting them from the ground. Grumbling to himself, he threw the corpse onto the body of the first tortured prisoner. Nearby, the wights in the wight pit noticed the scent of fresh blood spilling from the corpse's face and began trying to claw their way towards where the smell was coming from.

The third prisoner did not put up a fight at all. When they were brought before the Tickler, they were tortured like the others, but Arya watched them when at the end, Gregor Clegane grabbed them by the throat and hurled them into the adjacent wight pit. In moments that felt like three whole years, the screaming prisoner had been torn to shreds and devoured. Arya watched without a sound. Even though she did not say anything, she was inwardly becoming more enraged every passing minute. She wanted all of these people in Harrenhal who tortured others dead. If Arya had her way, she would let each of them get bit, watch with joy as they panicked while they turned, and then torture the wights of the perpetrators until she grew bored of it and crushed their skulls with something heavy before feeding their remains to Nymeria.

The fourth and final prisoner did not seem to want to fight, either. By the end of it, they were shaking, had lost both eyes, and had their throat slit by the Tickler before being thrown into the wight pit. Arya watched in silence as the corpse was quickly torn apart. Arya was not alone in her silence; the only sounds made by those observing these displays of torture were nervous coughs or shuffling feet. While nobody in the crowd made any noise, Gregor spoke again.

"_LET THIS BE A LEARNING EXPERIENCE FOR ALL OF YOU IF YOU HAVE ANY THOUGHTS ABOUT STEALING FROM ANY OF US!_"

Personally, Arya didn't think that some of those accused were guilty. Gregor Clegane and all of his cohorts were vicious, brutal men who wanted to see others suffer for their own amusement and gain. In her eyes, they were like the Brave Companions, but much more armed and powerful. It made her hope for escape dwindle a little bit. Everyone was led back to their work stations, and Arya continued to work for a few more hours before being escorted back into her cell by Weese. Around twenty or so minutes later, Gendry came back, followed by Hot Pie five minutes later. Weese made sure everyone was in their cells before leaving for the day. When he was gone, they got to talking.

"_They're going to kill us, aren't they?_" Hot Pie asked, sounding desolate.

Arya theorized that he was right; she thought that Harrenhal would dispose of them when they outlived their usefulness.

"Probably, but we still need to find a way out of here," Arya replied.

"What are you going to do, then?" Hot Pie asked. "Sit on your hands until Gregor dies or leaves to go somewhere?"

"If he dies, that doesn't mean everyone else is just going to lay down and die themselves," Arya replied. "Something massive needs to happen for us to get out of here."

"_Like what?!_" Hot Pie snapped. "A meteor hitting Harrenhal? Us growing wings and flying off?"

"A wight swarm," Arya answered. "I overheard Amory and Chiswyck talking about one coming this way."

"Then it can't come soon enough," Hot Pie grumbled. "Maybe we really _WILL_ get out of here–"

"_Hot Pie, knock it off!_" Gendry hissed.

Arya, now focused on Gendry, began to think that he had hope that they'd escape from Harrenhal eventually. Therefore, she decided to ask him about it.

"You think we'll get out of here?" Arya asked.

Gendry shrugged. "Maybe. I trust you with this fully."

"Really?" Arya said, her eyebrows raising.

"Yes. And if I know anything, it's that Arya Stark will always do what's best for her group."

Arya, now happy for once in a long while, wanted to hug him for saying that. However, due to their current circumstances, she couldn't. All she could do for the rest of the night was sit quietly and hope for an opportunity to escape.

* * *

The next day, Weese didn't arrive in the morning to take Arya, Gendry, and Hot Pie to do any work. After a number of hours of sitting around and doing nothing in her cell, Arya finally got tired of waiting and called over to the others.

"Hey, have either of you seen Weese?"

"No," Hot Pie said.

"Neither have I," Gendry added, shaking his head.

"Where do you think he is?" Arya asked.

Before anyone could get two words out, Arya heard the door to the jail open. She knew Gendry and Hot Pie had heard it as well, evident by their shrinking deeper into their shared cell. Arya could only sit and listen as Weese entered every cell, fought with the weakened prisoners inside, and killed them. She could tell what was happening due to the shouting and fighting noises, followed by wet crunching and crackling, sometimes accompanied by gurgling.

As Weese grew closer, Arya realized that she would likely be soon to die. However, she knew she would fight Weese to her dying breath, regardless of what weapon he had with him (if any). If he had his crowbar, she would wrestle it out of his hands and cave his skull in. As she sat there thinking of what new and exciting shapes to pound Weese's face into, she heard something from outside: it was, unmistakably, the distant sounds of a swarm of wights approaching. She recalled Chiswyck and Amory talking about this very thing days earlier, and now it was here. It reminded her of Fairmarket. And then it dawned on her: the prisoners who had been forced into labor had outlived their usefulness to Harrenhal.

Weese finally arrived. He had his crowbar, bloodied, in hand. To Arya's surprise, no other guards were there. Weese didn't say anything, just opened the door and approached. Without hesitation, he swung the crowbar at Arya's head. She ducked, then charged forward, screaming. She punched him in the face, her fear of him evaporating as it was replaced with sheer rage.

"_GET DOWN!_" Weese screamed, trying to bat Arya off of himself.

Arya didn't listen. It was Weese's turn to scream when Arya began scratching at his face and sliced open one of his larger boils with a few of her fingernails. Noticing this, Arya began deeply digging into the open wound with the same hand, screaming "_HOW'S THAT FEEL?!_" as she continued to do this. However, she let her guard down during this; Weese, with his free hand, grabbed her by the face and threw her to the back of the cell.

Gendry slammed himself against the door of his own cell. "_YOU LEAVE HER ALONE!_" He continued to slam himself against the door, attempting to batter it down to get to Weese and Arya. Arya couldn't tell what Hot Pie was doing. For a second as all this took place, Arya thought she heard the entrance to the jail open for a second time.

Weese charged and rammed the crowbar into Arya's gut, then backhanded her with his fist with his other hand. Falling backward, Weese raised the crowbar into the air, preparing to bring it down atop Arya's head. However, he never got a chance. A loud scream ripped through the cell, and Weese dropped to the floor as if dead. And then Arya saw it: Nymeria was in the cell, and she had bitten into Weese's right calf, pulling back forcefully and making him fall and loosen his grip on the crowbar. Arya grabbed the crowbar and walked back as Weese rolled himself over, giving Nymeria an opening to rip open his throat with her teeth. Weese, now desperate, tried to shove Nymeria off of himself, but he soon grew limp.

"Arya!"

Arya looked over and saw Weasel approach, large knife in hand. Both Arya and Weasel smiled as they ran towards each other and hugged one another tightly. They let go of one another, and Arya began to speak to Weasel.

"What happened? How did you find us?"

"The Brotherhood found us," Weasel explained. "We told them what happened, and they immediately knew what it was and who was responsible. We came here to rescue you guys. And before they found us… we… found Lommy and buried him…"

Arya let the implication of her words sink in. She knew that Jeyne's reaction to his body could not have been pretty. "Where are the others?" She asked as she heard the sounds of someone else opening the door to Gendry and Hot Pie's cell.

"They're out in the hall. Members of the Brotherhood are gonna come in here in a minute."

Arya exited the cell, and Weasel and Nymeria followed. The first thing Arya saw was Willow hugging Hot Pie and Gendry watching them. Arya looked to the left and saw Jeyne for the first time in a long time.

"_H-hey, Arya…_" Jeyne said weakly, sounding like she was seconds away from bursting into tears and trying hard not to. Arya then noticed her eyes. They were both raw and red, like she'd been through hours of tears. Arya also noticed that Jeyne wore both of Lommy's tattered green gloves on her hands.

"Hi, Jeyne," Arya said. She glanced down, and that was when she noticed a swell in Jeyne's abdomen, and it all clicked. Jeyne and Lommy advocating for staying at the house to defend it to the death, Lommy fighting as hard as he did in the woods right before he died, Jeyne asking Arya about what it was like taking care of a very young child, the sickness, it all made sense now, and she felt foolish for not realizing it sooner.

"You're pregnant, aren't you?" Arya said, then thought, _You and Lommy wanted to raise your kid in a sturdy home secluded from most dangerous things around today._

Jeyne, quietly beginning to cry again, nodded slowly. Arya and Jeyne moved towards each other and hugged. Jeyne sniffled as she and Arya hugged one another, and she finally spoke after Hot Pie moved past them towards the entrance of the jail after briefly speaking with Willow.

"_Arya, we found him… we found him on the ground…_"

"I know, and I'm sorry."

Jeyne continued to cry. "_They killed him so… in such a horrible, cruel way…_"

Arya tightened her hug. She could not imagine what Jeyne was going through. All she could do for her was offer her condolences and try as best as she could to comfort her. Jeyne let go of her after a moment, and then turned to approach Willow and Gendry to speak with the both of them.

Arya felt Weasel tug at the back of her shirt. Arya turned to address her. "Yes?"

"Arya, what does 'pregnant' mean?"

Arya felt horrible about the whole situation, but she wanted Weasel to understand. "It means… she's going to have a baby."

"Who's the other parent?"

"Lommy."

With the mention of Lommy's name, Jeyne began to sob loudly and collapsed into the arms of Willow and Gendry. Weasel then realized the full extent of what was happening, and a sad look crossed her face. Arya didn't blame anyone for how they were feeling regarding the situation.

Before anyone could say anything else, the entrance to the jail opened again, and three people walked in: Hot Pie, accompanied by both Anguy and Jack of the Brotherhood Without Banners, entered. Anguy had his bow and arrows, Jack had both a katana and an AR-15, and Hot Pie had been given a shotgun by them.

"We've got company," Hot Pie warned as he approached. He turned his head to look at Gendry. "They're all out there, and a whole bunch of wights–thousands of them–are headed this way. Gendry, you ought to lead us to that weapons storage spot so we can arm up and get out of here."

* * *

Before arriving at the outside walls of Harrenhal on their motorcycles, the Brotherhood Without Banners had regrouped with Jeyne, Willow, Weasel, and Nymeria. Weasel and Willow had explained everything to them, and they had found where Lommy's remains were buried shortly afterwards. All the while, Edric Dayne knew that while the Brave Companions were now gone, Harrenhal was now a variable that could not afford to be ignored, especially now that Arya, Gendry, and Hot Pie had been taken hostage by them.

Edric and other members of the Brotherhood Without Banners quickly noticed that Jeyne was pregnant, though Jeyne herself didn't bring it up. Edric, thanks to his conversations with Arya when he traded with her group, knew that Jeyne and Lommy were close. That coupled with her tears gave him all the information that he needed to know regarding the situation.

Willow and Weasel explained everything as best as they could. In turn, Edric, Tom, and Lem explained how they'd found the burned out shell of the house and tracked them into the woods south of Harroway, the bodies of the men from Harrenhal they killed helping them locate where they were in the process. Edric also took note of how they had Lommy's final bomb, Devastation, with them. He instructed Jeyne, Willow, and Weasel to take it with them when they reached Harrenhal. Everyone likely knew what Edric was thinking judging by the tone of his voice and his interest in Devastation: he was going to use that bomb somewhere in Harrenhal.

Getting close to Harrenhal, the group passed by a massive group of wights that was approaching the aforementioned base. Only a few of the dead noticed them, but they didn't stop the group. Edric, for obvious reasons, could not stop and count every single one of them, but he figured that there were thousands all headed straight towards Harrenhal. The gears started to turn in Edric's head when he saw this, thinking that the sound of Devastation's explosion would draw the dead towards Harrenhal in droves. He understood that they would still get there regardless, but the sound would definitely help them find it.

They got there first, though the dead weren't far behind. The group quickly spoke about a plan after surveying the area from a hole in the wall, and they found the entrance to the jail. Realizing that Arya, Gendry, and Hot Pie were likely trapped inside, they decided to wait for an opening for Weasel, Nymeria, Jeyne, and Willow to break them out, followed by Anguy and Jack entering.

The mission was successful. When Edric and the rest of the Brotherhood Without Banners members followed them inside, the whole group gathered near the entrance to the jail in Harrenhal. Arya was the first to approach Edric.

"Edric, we need to get to the weapon storage area and arm ourselves," Arya said. "We need to get out of here right now."

"We may have to wait out all of the wights coming in," Edric replied. "It's starting to get dark out, and there are thousands of wights coming here. Yes, we need to arm up, but we also need to hide for the time being and barricade ourselves wherever we can until–"

Loud shouts from several people interrupted Edric's statement. Several members of Harrenhal's garrison noticed them and began heading over, weapons in hand. Jack and Hot Pie raised their own weapons and began shooting before they got over there.

"Gendry, where is this weapons area?!" Willow demanded.

"In the southeast corner of Harrenhal," Gendry replied. "Now let's get there before anyone else sees us!"

They ran. Several people noticed them and tried to stop them, but Anguy shot some with his arrows, and Sandor nearly cleaved one's head off with his ax. The group made their way to the weapons area with Gendry's assistance. Sandor reached the door to the storage area first, and knocked it down with one hard hick. The rusted door flew off its hinges, and Sandor entered first, followed by Jack. There were five people already in the room.

Jack aimed his rifle towards the ceiling and fired off two warning shots. "_EVERYONE, SHUT UP AND GET ON THE FLOOR!_"

Everyone who they'd discovered in the small building did as they were told. Edric was already armed, so he didn't need to arm himself. Arya, Gendry, and a few others in the group who were still unarmed got to arming themselves. Arya found her machete, and Gendry found his sledgehammer.

"Okay, we have our things," Arya said. "We need to get out of here, and–"

Before Arya could finish, one of the people on the ground, who had been hiding a knife, got up and charged towards Arya, yelling. Edric didn't let him get ten feet; he shot him twice, and he fell. A few Brotherhood Without Banners members rolled him over and straightened him out to get a look at his face. When Arya saw who it was, she kicked the corpse once.

Edric raised an eyebrow as he looked over to her. "You knew him?"

"Yes," Arya answered. "This is Dunsen. He was one of the people who helped kidnap us and take us here."

They left the building quickly, and Arya looked over towards a wall and approached to get a look out of it through a hole; at once, Edric knew that the sound of the gathering wights was building, and everyone else in the group and in Harrenhal could hear it.

* * *

Arya could not believe what she was seeing through the hole in the south wall of the compound after deciding to investigate the noise she'd heard, which had been progressively growing in volume.

Outside of the walls of Harrenhal, there were thousands upon thousands of wights approaching. There were more than the massive crowd of them at Fairmarket, and Arya knew they would be unable to fight the entire approaching army of the dead, not the small group they had that consisted of her own group and the Brotherhood Without Banners. They would be all torn to shreds. Arya recalled Edric's words about hiding out in Harrenhal somewhere until the swarm had passed. That had problems on its own: Harrenhal was still swarming with Gregor Clegane's people, and it was incredibly likely that he and the other higher-ranking people running the compound had been alerted to the recent events involving the jail escapes. Therefore, Arya knew they had to act fast if they wanted to hide.

Edric approached her from behind. "Arya," he said quickly. Arya noticed he was holding Devastation as he kept talking to her. "We need to set this off so a lot of them come in and rip these Harrenhal guys to shreds. I recommend we put this towards the front of the building and mess up that garage door-looking thing they've got."

"Alright, then," Arya said. "We'll go."

Several others offered to come along, and in the end, Arya was accompanied by Edric, Sandor, Gendry, and Jeyne. Nymeria stayed behind with Weasel and the others. Willow and Weasel urged Jeyne not to go along with Arya due to her pregnancy, but she pushed back against them, explaining in a tone filled with absolute conviction that she was going to help set Devastation off, even if it killed her.

Making their way from the weapon storage area, Arya and her group soon approached the main area of Harrenhal. All over, people were running about with weapons, all likely getting ready to defend their compound to their final breath against the approaching tsunami of the living dead. Arya, since her group had Devastation with them, knew the people manning Harrenhal would be dead sooner than later.

Entering the main area of Harrenhal, Arya knew they would be seen if they just made a beeline for the front entrance, so they knew they needed to find another way to get there. Gendry pointed out a window in the building in front of the wight pit. Sandor smashed it open with his ax, and the small group hurried on inside, taking Devastation with them. As they hurried through, Arya heard the sounds of people talking.

"I don't know," one man said. "I think this might me it. Those three we brought into the jail some time ago might cause some trouble."

"Weese has killed them all by now," the other replied. "Amory gave the order for all the remaining prisoners to be slain."

Now Arya understood why Weese had come into the jail and tried to kill her; her theory about them outliving their usefulness had been confirmed. They had been busy fortifying Harrenhal to protect it against the oncoming swarm of the dead, and they had outlived their usefulness to Harrenhal once they had either finished their work or had run out of time. Arya thought they'd run out of time.

The two men in the other room entered, each of them wielding loaded pistols. They noticed the group in the room, and right as they were raising their weapons, Jeyne fired a crossbow bolt into one's neck while Sandor charged forward and nearly cleaved the other's head off with his ax. With that situation taken care of, they continued through the house and exited through a second window.

Like before, they entered the next building through a side window. Unlike before, there was no one inside. Pleased by this, Arya still understood that no people in this new building didn't mean she should let her guard down; they still needed to get close enough to the front door for Devastation to blow it open and let the dead break inside Harrenhal.

They made their way through the next building the same way, and they didn't encounter anyone like before. Though Arya was happy to be so fortunate to not encounter anyone else, she still refused to let her guard down. Reaching the end of the house, they found the final window. Arya ducked to hide her presence there when she saw two armed men running, but popped back up when she saw a now clear shot to the front entrance of Harrenhal. Arya opened the window and, one by one, they piled out and ran to the garage-like entrance.

Jeyne placed Devastation to where it was butting up against the metal of the door. Stepping back, Arya, Jeyne, Gendry, Edric, and Sandor got a look at Devastation. Arya could hear the sounds of the wights outside. They were all around Harrenhal now.

"Everyone back up," Jeyne said. Arya thought the look on the former's face said, "Justice will be served tonight." Jeyne continued to speak after everyone moved by about twenty feet, saying, "Edric, be prepared to–"

She never got a chance to finish. A loud, familiar voice interrupted her.

"_HEY, YOU GET BACK HERE!_"

Arya turned her head to see Raff approaching with two other men. Arya and the others began to run, and a gunshot rang out from Edric's handgun when they got farther away from Devastation. Edric had shot the bomb, and it went off and tore open a large hole in the wall. One of the two men accompanying Raff had died in the explosion, the other was screaming as they burned, and Raff's right leg had been ripped in half. Edric shot the burning man right before he, Arya, and everyone else in the group surrounded Raff.

"_You…_" Raff growled.

Arya, noticing Raff's mangled leg, decided to reply with a specific sentence. "Can you walk?"

Raff, based on the look on his face, realized what was going on.

Jeyne seemed to pick up on it, too. "_Arya, was he the one?_" She sounded like she wanted to tear something off of someone.

Arya immediately knew what she was talking about. "Yes."

Jeyne raised her crossbow and fired a bolt into Raff's head, killing him immediately.

They had no time to dwell on anything else. The wights from outside had been attracted to the sound of the explosion, and some of them were in the process of worming their way through the hole Devastation had made in the wall and front entrance of Harrenhal. One made their way in, followed by two, then another sole wight. Arya understood she and the others didn't have time to stick around. The sound would not just attract wights–the men manning Harrenhal would most definitely hear it as well.

"We need to get back to the others!" Arya shouted. Without saying anything else, the small group, in their haste to flee, ran back towards the weapons storage area through the main area instead of going through the windows of the buildings again. Like what Arya had expected, more people showed up. Some went to go and defend the entrance and try in vain to patch up the hole while some noticed the people planning to escape.

"_HEY!_" one man out of three shouted as they neared Arya's small group. Arya noticed that they were nearing the wight pit as they approached.

Not hesitating, Edric raised his weapon and fired multiple shots off. One dropped dead, another fell after being shot in the leg a few times, and the third hadn't been hit at all. The third swung a metal pipe at Gendry's head. He ducked out of the way, swung his sledgehammer, and hit his attacker in the ribs. The attacker made another move and missed Gendry again. Jeyne, noticing an opening, fired a crossbow bolt into the attacker's eye and killed them in the process.

Arya noticed that they were nearing the wight pit. She looked back once and saw that the entrance to Harrenhal was starting to be pushed in more, like a sizable number of the dead were pressing themselves up against the door. More were getting in, and Arya realized that they'd be caught in the midst of what was inevitably going to happen if they didn't get out of the way, and soon.

Arya hoped that she, Edric, Gendry, Sandor, and Jeyne would make it back to the others before anyone else saw them. Unfortunately, this didn't happen. Gregor Clegane himself, accompanied by Polliver, the Tickler, and a few others, appeared before them with six other people. All of them had melee weapons. Gregor had a large broadsword, Polliver had a machete, and the Tickler had a knife in each hand.

"_YOU WILL NOT LEAVE HERE ALIVE!_" Gregor roared as he swung his broadsword at Sandor's head. Sandor ducked out of the way and swung his ax into his brother's armor. Nearby, Edric used the three bullets he had left on a few of the attackers (killing a number of them), Jeyne fired a crossbow bolt into someone's head, more wights spilled in from behind them all, Arya was charged at by the Tickler, and Gendry was faced with Polliver.

Arya jumped out of the way as the Tickler swung a knife at her face. It split open a small amount of skin, but did not puncture deeply. Arya swung her machete at the Tickler as she charged forward, hoping to impale him on it like with what happened with Rorge in Saltpans. She didn't get a chance. The Tickler swiveled around and swung again.

Arya let out a pained shriek as one of the knives penetrated her left shoulder. She lurched back, and the knife was wrenched from the Tickler's hand in the process, though it was still in Arya's shoulder. Nearby, Gendry swung his sledgehammer and connected with Polliver's left knee. Polliver screamed as a crackling noise was heard, through he still lurched forward and swung his machete at Gendry. Gendry jumped back when he saw this, and Polliver cut through a bit of Gendry's shirt, a thin vertical line of blood forming in the process as he was grazed.

Gendry didn't let this deter him. He charged at Polliver again, keeping careful watch on his machete. Nearby, as Sandor charged at his brother again, the latter grabbed him by the throat and threw him back, approaching him with his broadsword immediately after. Sandor rolled out of the way on the ground as Gregor swung down, screaming, "_HOLD STILL!_"

Sandor didn't listen. Instead, he propped himself up and charged with the ax again, swinging. Gregor pulled one had from the handle of his broadsword and grabbed the handle of the ax as Sandor swung down again. Sandor yanked back, pulling Gregor with him, and head butted his brother. A crack was heard, and Sandor watched as blood began pouring from Gregor's broken nose.

As Jeyne and Edric dealt with the others, Arya swung her machete again and severed a number of the fingers on the Tickler's left hand. He shrieked, and Arya tackled him. She grabbed one of the Tickler's fallen knives, and she began stabbing him in the chest repeatedly. He went limp after a few moments.

When Arya realized that she'd killed him, she got up and saw Polliver quickly limping at her with his machete. Gendry had noticed and charged at him from the side as Arya ripped the Tickler's knife out of her shoulder and charged from the front. Gendry swung his sledgehammer and hit him in the side as Arya avoided Polliver's swing by ducking and ramming both the knife and the machete into his abdomen. She left the knife in Polliver as she yanked the machete out.

From behind them all, the door was continuing to press inward. Anyone who saw it knew it wouldn't hold for much longer, and more and more wights were getting in after being attracted to the noise of Devastation going off.

Now Gregor was the final one of the attacking group standing. He charged at Sandor with a yell, and Sandor ducked out of the way. Arya understood that they needed to assist Sandor, so she maneuvered around trying to find an opening to attack Gregor. Arya took mental note of how they were all close to the wight pit, and someone would likely fall in if they weren't careful.

Gendry was the first to get over there. He swung his sledgehammer at Gregor's back, and it left a dent in the armor. Gregor, noticing this, turned to confront Gendry, swinging his broadsword as he turned around. Gendry lurched backwards to avoid getting hit and landed on his back. Arya was relieved; if he hadn't moved so suddenly, he would have likely lost his head.

Edric charged at Gregor from the side. Gregor, noticing this, grabbed him by the throat, ran over to the nearest wall, and held him up against the building. He briefly put his sword back in its sheath to hold Edric's head in both hands. Screaming, Edric thrashed around and beat at Gregor's large, trunk-like arms with his hands as Gregor began to press his thumbs into Edric's eyes.

"_YOURS WON'T BE THE FIRST HEAD I'VE SMASHED OPEN!_" Gregor screamed.

Sandor, Arya, and Gendry charged towards Gregor immediately to protect Edric from being killed. Sandor swung his ax, Gendry swung his sledgehammer, and Arya drove her machete into the back of Gregor's right leg. The armor on Gregor's torso began to crack apart as Sandor and Gendry repeatedly hit him there, and Gregor howled and dropped Edric after Arya twisted the machete as she yanked it out of Gregor's leg. As Edric scampered off, Gregor turned around quickly and drew his broadsword. Arya and everyone else backed up as Gregor charged, but quickly staggered and dropped to one knee because of the leg wound which Arya had given him.

As Gregor got up again, Arya and everyone else heard a loud scream. They watched as Weasel appeared, knife in hand, clambering to the top of Gregor. Gregor roared as Weasel–who was still screaming–wrapped an arm around his neck and began stabbing into his chest repeatedly. Gregor's armor was very much damaged by this point, allowing Weasel to have areas in which to stab. After a few moments of this, Gregor grabbed Weasel by the back of her head and threw her over his shoulder. She went flying, and Arya hurried over to help her back on her feet.

Sandor swung his ax a final time after Weasel had stabbed into Gregor's chest repeatedly. It found itself embedded in Gregor's chest, and he staggered back, falling backwards into the wight pit. The wights were on him immediately. As Arya and a few others watched as Gregor tried to wrestle his way out of the pit, he was bitten several times in various places.

"Weasel!" Arya said as she helped her up from the ground. "We need to get out of here before–"

A loud, metallic groan came from the front entrance. Enough of the dead had pushed up against the door, and it had been broken open. Dozens of them began spilling into Harrenhal. Arya noticed Qyburn near the door, and some of the wights began headed right towards him. Sandor's words summed up how everyone felt about the situation.

"Everybody run."

They ran as Gregor began to make his way out of the wight pit. Arya could see that already, his eyes were starting to change from brown to blue because of the amount of bites he'd received. More people were beginning to gather around the front to try and shoot at the wights to keep them back, but they were quickly getting overwhelmed.

Arya, Gendry, and Weasel were in the back of the group. Jeyne, Edric, and Sandor disappeared around the corner of a building, and Arya, Gendry, and Weasel hurried after them. This didn't last long. Weasel screamed as she was suddenly wrenched away. Arya and Gendry turned to see Amory Lorch running off with her. Before they could get two feet to help, three wights appeared and stopped them from going any farther.

By the time they dispatched the wights, Amory had dragged Weasel around the side of a building off in the distance. Without saying a word, Arya and Gendry hurried after the both of them. They soon found a horrifying sight: Weasel was trying to run away, and Amory had a sledgehammer of his own. Amory swung and hit Weasel in the leg. Weasel screamed and fell. Arya began running faster towards them, her anger rising to a level she'd never experienced before.

Amory swung again, hitting Weasel in the stomach so hard she vomited. Arya, now running faster than Gendry, dropped her machete, snatched his sledgehammer out of his hands, and leapt. Amory turned to see them, and Arya smashed the end of the hammer into Amory's pig-like face. For the next minute, she went nuts on Amory and turned his head into what best could be described as ground pulp with the sledgehammer, rage and ferocity driving her in the moment.

After it was done, she tossed the sledgehammer aside and hurried over to Weasel.

"Weasel, can you move?"

Weasel tried to get up, but let out a pained wail. "_Arya, I don't think I can walk!_"

Arya picked Weasel up. Seeing Weasel in pain like this felt to her like being stabbed in the soul. "Wrap your arms around my neck," she instructed. "I'll carry you out of here. Jeyne or Thoros can look at you after we get out of here."

Weasel did as she was told. Gendry and Arya retrieved their weapons, and they began to run for where the weapons storage area was located. It was then that Arya noticed Willow a distance away from them, cupping her hands on either side of her mouth to call over to them. Gregor was nowhere to be seen, and neither was Qyburn. Arya watched as Chiswyck fell from one of the walls as a wight tore into his chest.

"We found some stairs to head up to the ramparts!" Willow shouted, Hot Pie appearing by her side as he blew a wight's brains out with his shotgun. "Follow us! We might be okay up there!"

* * *

Arya didn't want Weasel to slip off of her back, so she deeply hoped that Weasel would hold on with every ounce of strength she had left.

Following Willow and Hot Pie, they found Jeyne with them. Jeyne, joining Arya, Gendry, and Weasel in the back, hurried with them as scores of the dead began to hurry after them from behind. They soon found a set of stairs and began to climb. Arya knew that if they lagged behind, even a little, they would die. Reaching the top of the ramparts, they began to run after Hot Pie and Willow to the nearest tower in one of the corners of Harrenhal's walls.

"You all stop!" a voice Arya recognized called from behind. Arya, Gendry, Hot Pie, Willow, and Jeyne turned to see Qyburn approaching from amidst the dead, revolver in hand. His eyes were turning from a light brown to a pale blue, and Arya noticed that he was covered in wight blood and chopped up organs, and a bite mark was on his right hand. There were likely other bites in other places, but she didn't see them anywhere.

The dead were slower than usual; Arya noticed that several of them had leg wounds likely sustained from trampling over each other in an attempt to get at them. She also noticed an undead Gregor Clegane among them, two heads taller than all the others.

"You will not escape here with your lives!" Qyburn shouted weakly. Arya noticed that the hand holding the revolver was shaking.

"_Run, go!_" Arya screamed to everyone else. Before she could turn to run, four shots rang out. Jeyne screamed and fell as three of the bullets hit her, one in the calf and two in the knee. Arya felt a sharp push and then a sting as her right shoulder was wounded by one of Qyburn's bullets. The wights, drawn by the noise Qyburn had made, quickly began to swarm and devour him. He didn't fight back. Arya fell and landed on Weasel, who screamed. Arya quickly got up.

"_WEASEL, ARE YOU OKAY?!_"

"_Yes, just hurt…_" Weasel groaned. Arya and Willow hurried over to Jeyne.

"_Jeyne, are you okay?!_"

Jeyne on the floor, groaned as she staggered upwards. "_My leg… I don't think I can run or walk properly…_"

She tried taking two steps after staggering up and fell a second time. The wights, finishing up with Qyburn, now turned their attention to the others.

"_You guys have to run!_" Jeyne shouted.

Willow grabbed her sister's hand and yanked. There were tears in her eyes. "_NO! YOU'RE COMING WITH US!_"

"_WILLOW! HEDDLE!_" Jeyne shouted as loudly as possible as some of the wights started to make their way over to them. She was crying as well. "_MOVE! NOW! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!_"

"_I love you…_" Willow wheezed before letting go of Jeyne to regroup with Hot Pie and run.

Weasel lurched to the side, likely trying to get Arya to do something she wanted. All was explained to Arya as she began shouting.

"_Arya, we need to get Jeyne!_"

"Weasel, we need to leave! Her leg is too wounded for her to–"

"_But the baby–_"

"_THERE'S NO TIME!_" Arya felt like her heart was being torn out as she said this.

As Jeyne screamed as she was torn apart by the masses of the living dead, Arya silently cried as she hurried away with Weasel, hurrying after Gendry as Hot Pie and Willow entered the tower they were running towards.

* * *

Arya, Gendry, and Weasel entered the tower after Hot Pie and Willow had already left it. Gendry noticed a few crates nearby and pushed one of them in front of the door they'd just entered.

"We can get out of here now," he said, walking towards the middle of the tower. Arya followed suit, and the floor began to creak loudly. With horror, Arya realized that the floor was like to give away soon if too much weight was put on it. Willow and Hot Pie running through first had likely weakened the floor due to Hot Pie's weight, and she and Gendry and Weasel would likely make it worse.

They both backed up. "_What… what's this…?_" Gendry said as he observed the floor, sounding like he was about to mentally hit the panic button.

"It's too weak to support all of our weight," Arya answered. "I think…"

A rotted hand burst through the wall behind them. The force of all the wights began to move the crate.

"I think…"

Splintering noises came from the wood in the wall behind them as more of the dead started to break in. The crate lurched forward a bit.

"Only two of us can make it out of here."

Gendry looked and sounded distraught. "_No… no… no… no… we'll make it out together…_"

"Gendry, our predicament says we _can't,_" Arya shot back. "I want to make it out, too. Believe me, I do. However, while we're here, I have one final request."

"Yes?"

Arya turned around. "Take Weasel and get out of here."

"_What?!_" Weasel screamed. "_No!_"

"Weasel, it has to happen."

A short moment later, Weasel wrapped her arms around Gendry's neck instead go Arya's. She was wailing loudly, just like when she was a toddler. It wrenched Arya's heart out, just like Jeyne and Lommy's deaths. Arya knew she herself was dead.

"_Arya, please!_" Weasel begged, tears streaming down her face.

"Look," Arya said, hugging Gendry. He returned her hug as she kept talking, "I love you both very much, and I wish you the best. Gendry, please, you and everyone else take good care of Weasel for me, okay?"

He kissed the top of her head. "I will. We _all_ will. What are you going to do now?"

She let go of Gendry, drew her machete, and faced the door as the crate lurched again. She saw more rotting hands begin to make their way into the room. "I'll buy you both some time."

Gendry ran with Weasel on his back over to the other door, the floor loudly creaking and crackling as he moved. He and Weasel gave her one last glance before they left.

The wights broke in. Arya yelled loudly and cleaved one's arm off with her machete, followed by her ramming it into one's eye straight through to the brain. She backed up as the crate moved again. She killed two more as she neared the center of the room, the floor about ready to give away. More wights came in, and the floor gave away.

Falling, Arya saw a second room below the one she'd been fighting in. There were some large objects and a metal door nearby her.

The door swung open just before Arya landed on anything. Arya hit her head on the side of something heavy at the bottom room of the tower, and she lost consciousness as several of the dead spilled in after her.

* * *

**NOTE:** I am sorry this chapter may have taken longer than expected. See you next time for the ending of this fic.


	15. Partem Tributorum Lapsis (2017)

**WaywardCollision:** You're welcome.

* * *

**NOTE:** The title of this chapter translates from Latin to English as "Tribute To The Fallen".

* * *

**Chapter Fifteen:**

**Partem Tributorum Lapsis (2017)**

* * *

"_Gendry, we have to go back!_" Weasel wailed as Gendry carried her out of the tower, following Willow and Hot Pie in the distance.

"We can't!" Gendry replied. "It's too late for her!"

Weasel heard a loud noise from behind, like something had given away, and she knew Arya was gone. She could only weep, trying to ignore the horrific pain in both her stomach and leg after Amory had hit her with his sledgehammer multiple times.

Gendry, Weasel, Willow, and Hot Pie wound up in one of the walls of Harrenhal with the Brotherhood Without Banners. Thoros got to work on treating Weasel's broken leg. It hurt badly, but Weasel bit down on a rag as he worked on setting the bones in her leg. Gendry, Hot Pie, and Lem had to hold her down during the process of all this because her reflexes trying to fight Thoros as he worked on her leg. Afterward, she was told to lay down on a crate located in the wall until she felt better and to not put pressure on her wounded leg.

For the most part, Gendry and Willow kept Weasel company. Nymeria trotted over to lick her left hand every now and then, but all of this was overshadowed by Weasel's downhearted feelings regarding losing Arya. Jeyne and Lommy being killed had hurt her, but Arya was even worse. Arya had been there for her since the very beginning, and Weasel thought that out of everyone in the group, she had the closest relationship with Arya. And now she was gone. While her leg was healing, the most Weasel could do was lay there and cry.

Weasel remained in this situation for weeks. Finally, Thoros told her it was okay for her to get up and start walking. Weasel, cautiously, climbed off the crate. She felt a dull pain in her wounded leg, but it wasn't bad enough for her to limp.

"Don't put too much pressure on it," Thoros instructed. "We don't want you breaking that again."

Weasel didn't answer. She looked horrible and distraught. Thoros noticed.

"Weasel, what's wrong?"

Weasel hesitated a little before speaking. "_…Arya's gone…_"

"She's not," Thoros replied.

Weasel's eyes shot open. "_What?!_"

"When she fell, I threw that door in the bottom of the tower open. Lem, Jack, Anguy, and I saved her from all those wights," he explained. "But she hit her head pretty hard when she fell. She hit a crate head first. I really wish that Jeyne wouldn't have died. Taking care of you both would've been so much easier."

"Can I please see her?" Weasel asked.

Thoros led her to another part of the interior of Harrenhal's walls. There, Weasel found a second crate with Arya herself atop it. She was not moving, and Weasel knew that she wouldn't respond if she were to call out to her. Weasel stood and observed her for a few moments before she said anything.

"Is she okay?"

"She's comatose," Thoros explained. "Like I said, she hit her head very hard on that crate when she fell. We just need to wait until she comes out of her coma."

Weasel, with a concerned look on her face, observed Arya's motionless form. She hoped she would come out of her coma and not die as well.

* * *

"She's awake."

A long time later (Weasel did not know how long), Weasel heard the announcement from Hot Pie. Immediately, she got up and hurried over to where Arya was located. She soon found her sitting on a large box. Gendry was to her left and had a comforting and supportive arm wrapped around her shoulder.

"Do you think that you can walk?" Gendry asked.

"_…Maybe…_" Arya mumbled, looking around the room. When she saw Weasel, she stood up and slowly made her way over to her, nearly breaking out into a sprint once Weasel had done the same, both smiling widely. Weasel began to feel tears welling up in her eyes as she nearly tackled Arya into a firm hug. Arya returned her hug, and they silently stood there in that position for a number of minutes.

Arya broke the silence first. "How's your leg?"

"Better," Weasel said, now steadily crying into Arya's shirt. "How's your head?"

Arya paused before speaking again. "Thoros said to be careful. If I take another hard blow to my head, that would be very bad."

"It's still going to take some time for you to fully recover," Thoros, who was present there, explained. "You've been unconscious for a few months. You've just woken up today."

They lived in the walls for the next two months. In that time, food was nearly scarce, but it was rationed well enough for everyone. When the two months had finished, Weasel was the first to hear from Arya that Thoros had explained to her that she had now healed enough to travel.

Weasel was present when Arya gathered the rest of the group to talk about their next steps after Harrenhal. The house had been burned to the ground, and now they seemingly had nowhere else to go. Therefore, they decided to talk.

"What are our realistic options?" Willow asked.

"We could find a town or city," Hot Pie said. "Like in the old days. Remember Barrowton?"

Arya nodded. "Yes, that's possible. But where are we on a map?"

Weasel spoke up. While Arya was healing, she had spent her time reading maps found in Harrenhal by members of the Brotherhood Without Banners. Based on her experience as the group's former navigator, she was able to read any map with ease.

"_I know!_" she announced hopefully. "According to maps I found here, the nearest places are High Heart and Riverrun."

A look of recognition passed Arya's face when the latter was mentioned. "Riverrun?" Arya said. "I've got family there."

"So should we go there?" Hot Pie asked.

"Yes," Gendry said, nodding his head. "Maybe we could stop by High Heart to stock up on supplies."

"Seconded," Willow said.

"Thirded," Arya threw in. "It's settled, then."

* * *

Outside of Harrenhal, Gendry pulled around a large armored van from the parking lot in Harrenhal. Arya knew they'd need a new vehicle to get far enough to Riverrun. Therefore, they looked through the available vehicles and picked the armored van. Arya was unsure if it was the same van she had been abducted in, but she didn't care at that point. As Gendry got out of the van, Arya was speaking to Jack, Sandor, Tom, Anguy, Thoros, Lem, and Edric.

"Again, thank you all for everything," she said.

Edric, who was up front, replied. "You're very welcome."

Weasel stepped forward from Arya's side. "Do you think we'll see you again?"

"Maybe," Sandor said. Tom and Thoros snickered. Lem and Anguy both grinned.

"Honestly, you could see us again. With Harrenhal and the Brave Companions now both gone, we have nobody really to fight. We're only just nomads for the time being. We could find Riverrun one day, but for now, only time will tell."

Arya liked the air that Edric had about him; it made her think that since the Brotherhood Without Banners was now without a leader after Beric's death, Edric himself could very well become their new leader in the future.

"Hey, take care of yourselves," Lem said as Gendry reached everyone else after getting out of the armored van.

"Yeah," Thoros said, nodding his head. "Be careful."

They headed towards the van after a few more goodbyes from the Brotherhood Without Banners. Arya got in the driver's seat while Weasel, road atlas in hand, sat to her right. Gendry and Willow sat in the seats behind them, and Nymeria and Hot Pie both piled into the back. Arya started the armored van, headed towards the nearest road as she started driving, and honked her horn at the Brotherhood Without Banners as a final goodbye as she passed them.

* * *

Willow both looked and sounded annoyed. "Arya, why are you stopping?"

"I'm out of gas," Arya replied.

They'd been driving for a few days. They'd passed a road to go to High Heart, but multiple people pointed out that the road was blocked off by several cars. Disappointed, Arya pressed on towards Riverrun. When they passed the road to High Heart, Weasel looked at the road atlas and pointed out that they were three fourths of the way to Riverrun. Pleased, Arya hoped to make it to at least ten miles away from Riverrun before they ran out of gas.

Everyone piled out of the armored van when it stopped in the middle of the road. Getting out, Arya felt the cold air hit her immediately. She noticed that the trees had changed color some time earlier, and she figured that they were headed into winter soon. She didn't want the group to freeze to death, so she understood that they had to get to Riverrun as quickly as possible. It reminded her of when they had to huddle while sharing large blankets back in the first few years.

"So what are we going to do?" Willow asked, crossing her arms. She looked agitated because of the sudden stop.

"We need to walk the rest of the way," Arya explained. "It'll take a number of days, maybe even weeks, but we'll make it to Riverrun, I guarantee. We just need to beat winter."

"Then let's do it," Willow said, "with or without the van."

"Yeah, I'm going, too," Hot Pie said.

"Make that three," Weasel said.

"Wherever you go, I will follow," Gendry said.

Nymeria barked.

"Then we all have a long road ahead of us," Arya announced. "Let's head on out. Just take whatever you can from the van. Weapons, food, things like that."

She turned and began leading her group towards Riverrun after everyone took their weapons out of the van as well as backpacks full of supplies. Arya, like Willow, was aggravated over losing the armored van, but she was happy that they were able to use it to get as far as they did. Beginning to walk, they soon found a green road sign telling them how close they were.

**RIVERRUN - 25**

**PINKMAIDEN - 190**

**GOLD TOOTH - 250**

_We can make it,_ Arya thought. She also thought of her uncle, Edmure Tully, who lived in Riverrun. She hoped she would be able to find him there.

_We WILL make it,_ Arya told herself, confident.

* * *

After two days of nearly nonstop walking, they made it. They had to kill a few wights in the twenty-five miles between Riverrun and where they left the armored van, but they otherwise had no problems. Riverrun itself reminded Arya of White Harbor; it was very fortified and had strong-looking walls.

"We need to find a way in," Willow said, then looked at Arya. "What should we do?"

"Split up for now," Arya replied. "Hot Pie and Willow, you look around here. The rest of us will search elsewhere."

Arya, Gendry, Weasel, and Nymeria split off from Hot Pie and Willow. As they walked for a few moments, Arya noticed Weasel lag behind them for a moment.

"Weasel, are you okay?" Arya asked.

"_No…_" she said lowly. "_My feet hurt._"

"From walking for two days? So do everyone else's."

Despite her comments about everyone's feet hurting, Arya couldn't help but feel bad for Weasel. Before she could offer to carry her, someone else did.

"You want to get on my back?" Gendry asked.

"Sure," Weasel answered.

Weasel got on Gendry's back like in Harrenhal. Arya thought that if she were a few years younger, she would still be small enough to sit on his shoulders. Weasel did it once when she was very little, and she loved the whole experience.

They kept going. After a while, they came upon an older man patrolling the outside of the walls, who appeared to be a guard of sorts.

"Hey, stop!" the guard shouted. "Who are you and what's your business here?"

"My name is Arya Stark," Arya announced. "This is my dog, Nymeria, and these are Gendry and Weasel. We're here seeking somewhere to stay in Riverrun."

The guard's eyes lit up. "Arya Stark?" he said. "I know your uncle, Edmure Tully. He is in charge here. My name is Desmond Grell, I can take you to him, along with your daughter."

Arya was confused for a moment, but then realized he was talking about Weasel. "No, she's not my child," Arya explained. "We found her when she was two years old at the start of all of this." Arya, then thinking about Desmond's comments, realized it should have made sense. Anyone who didn't know any better who saw them there could have easily mistaken Arya, Gendry, and Weasel for a small family.

"There are others with us," Arya revealed. "I need to go and get them."

* * *

Arya, Gendry, Hot Pie, Weasel, Willow, and Nymeria were brought into Riverrun, being led by Desmond. They walked through the city streets for a number of minutes before they reached a building, likely where Edmure's office would be. They went inside and followed Desmond to a room at the end of a hall.

"Sir!" Desmond called into the room. "One of your family members is here!"

There was a noise that sounded like someone suddenly getting up from a chair at a desk. Arya heard the sound of footsteps, and the door to the office was opened. There was a pause when Edmure saw Arya. They soon found themselves in a shared, firm hug. Arya was beyond relieved to see that she had at least one living relative. There was a chance that others were out there, but she figured she would likely never find out.

"How've you been?" Edmure asked.

"Horrible," Arya said. It was the first word that came to mind.

Edmure chuckled once. "Are these your friends?" he asked.

Arya nodded. "For years, they have been."

Edmure looked like he was on the verge of tears. "You know... Desmond, myself, and a few others, we... we went to Winterfell to look for you and the rest of the Starks. We found my sister and brother-in-law and nephew as the living dead, but... _not anyone else... I really thought all of you were gone._"

"We've been looking for somewhere to stay," Arya said. "Winter's starting to creep in, and we don't want to freeze to death."

"Then you've found the right place," Edmure said. "It's November now, and the year's 2017. We've been here for–"

"Wait, 2017?" Arya said. "_That means..._" Arya paused to do the math in her head. "My birthday's in September, _so..._ I am _twenty years old now._" She turned to look at Weasel. "You're ten."

It blew Arya's mind. Weasel, who was only two when everything started, was only two years short of being how old Arya was at the start.

Edmure returned to his desk. "Now," he said, "I'd like to talk to you all about how you got to this point."

* * *

Two days later, Arya was walking through the streets of Riverrun with Edmure when the two of them came upon a large wall with people's names painted, written, and carved into it. This caught Arya's attention, so she decided to ask Edmure about it.

"Edmure?" she said. "What's with all the names on the wall?"

"This is a memorial wall," Edmure explained. "They're all over Riverrun. People like to come here and put the names of people on here. Loved ones who have been lost to the dead. I put the names of your parents and brother here after I got back from Winterfell when we found them."

Arya just then had an idea. "Do you mind if I use it?"

"No, go ahead," Edmure answered. "There are spray paint cans and knives and markers available here for you to use."

Arya got to work. She took a knife and began to carve the names of her fallen companions into the wall. It took time, but she accomplished it regardless.

**ELMAR**

**LOMMY**

**JEYNE**

Arya looked for a moment at what she'd put on the wall. She came to realize that she felt like someone else was missing. With a sad sigh, she began to scratch one final name into the wall, below Jeyne's name. Specifically, someone who never had a chance to be named. It was more of a description than a name.

**L/J CHILD**

"Arya?"

Arya looked to her left and saw Willow (who had spoken) and Hot Pie approaching when she was finished. They were holding hands, and Arya quickly realized that they must have learned what the wall was about and found her when they came to investigate.

"Hi," Arya said. "How are you settling into Riverrun?"

"Fine," Hot Pie said. "I'm a cook, and Willow here says she wants to become a guard."

Willow nodded. "We saw you were at the memorial wall and wanted to say hello."

"Well, hi," Arya replied. "I've just finished putting some names on the wall."

She stepped aside to show them. Hot Pie and Willow each took a few steps forward and got an eyeful of Arya's work. When Willow's eyes reached the bottom, she began to cry. Arya heard her sniffle and bury her face into Hot Pie's shirt. One of the rarest things to ever witness was seeing Willow Heddle cry, but now Arya was witnessing it happen.

After a few minutes of this, Willow pulled her face away from Hot Pie and spoke. "_They should all be here..._" she said. Arya almost immediately realized that she wasn't talking about Elmar; she had never known him, after all. "_Lommy, Jeyne, and..._" Willow paused before speaking. "_Well... hopefully... they're one big, happy family, wherever they are..._"

Willow began crying again as she and Hot Pie hugged one another. Arya got up, walked over, and embraced her as well, hoping it would comfort her.

* * *

Two days later, Arya woke up in her apartment, and the first thing she saw after putting her eyepatch on was Nymeria asleep on a big armchair across from the bed. Arya was finally happy that she had fallen asleep; she had been awake half the night, growling.

"Morning," Gendry said as he walked in from another room, scratching the back of his head. Arya walked over to him, and the two hugged.

"You're going to your new job, right?" Arya asked, trying to remember what responsibility Edmure had given him.

"Yes," he said, nodding. "He wants me to start making armor for the guards and people who live in Riverrun. You've got a job, too, right?"

Arya did, though she didn't mention what it was to Gendry. They walked out of the apartment together (all of Arya's group had been given their own apartment in the city), and they soon found Weasel in the hallway.

"_Arya!_" Weasel shouted, hurrying over to her. Arya and Weasel quickly found themselves in a tight hug. They let go of each other after a few seconds of this.

Weasel continued talking. "_I'm going to my new job today!_" she announced proudly. "Your uncle says I'm going to be a lookout for the guards."

Arya was proud of Weasel. She was very happy that they kept her alive, took care of her, and protected her for all those years. Arya thought that Weasel was one of the best things that had ever happened to her, and if she had the opportunity to go back and live through the experience where she and Gendry, Hot Pie, and Lommy found her in that car, she would have rescued her all over again.

"_Well, goodbye!_" Weasel announced as she turned to run off. "_See you later!_"

Weasel took off down the hallway, turned a corner, and then disappeared. Arya looked back at Gendry.

"So I guess I'm going to take off, too," she said.

Gendry nodded. "So am I." He leaned forward and kissed her forehead. Arya hugged him. He hugged her back, and they stayed in this position for what felt like a full minute.

"Alright," Gendry said, chuckling. "I'm off." He began to walk away.

"Okay, um..." Arya said, unsure of exactly how to respond. She felt like she didn't want either of them to leave. "Until then. Bye."

* * *

Later on in the day, Arya made her way to a radio tower, which was run by a subordinate of Edmure's, Robin Ryger. According to Edmure, he had staff on radios searching for other people to bring them to Riverrun.

Robin directed her to a desk with a chair in front of it and a radio and communication device on top of it. After showing Arya how to operate the machines, he left her to do her work. For a long while, Arya was flipping through different frequencies with the nine other people in the building doing similar work around her in different rooms.

Finally, she reached someone. When she heard the sound of someone talking, she addressed whoever it was.

"Hello?"

"_H...hello...?_" The voice, though a little distorted thanks to the slightly bad frequency, sounded familiar.

"Hello?" Arya repeated. The identity of the owner of the voice was on the tip of her tongue. "_My name is Arya. Can you hear me?_"

There was a pause before the familiar voice spoke again. It was more clear this time. "_Arya, is that you?!_"

Arya's eye widened. She figured it out. "_Sansa…?_"

* * *

**NOTE:** And that's it. After a year and some months, my fanfic is finally done. I have some other projects planned for the future (not related to this fic; I've had some ideas for a sequel, but I highly doubt I'll make one). However, I have other non-fanfiction projects I need to finish, so I'll be focusing on those before I come back to writing fanfiction. Regardless, thank you for sticking around for this long, and I hope you have a good day wherever you are.

**–YourLocalElephant**


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